STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Good or bad for business
Ike ‘Ka Iking’ Señeres

I always try in this column to write about public policies and actions that are either good or bad for business. My purpose is not to attack or destroy but to build and correct, which is what a critic is supposed to do.

At times I am asked by the people or agencies I write about to meet with them so that they could air their side, so I always give them a chance to get heard. Since my stance is not combative, I often get commitments from them that they would correct what is wrong, or at least do something that would turn out for the good. The bottom line of course is their sincerity, because talk is cheap, and liars are a dime dozen.
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I wrote about the alleged corruption at the National Food Authority involving the hauling of imported rice at their National Capital Region office, without the benefit of bidding. In the letter that they sent me, their officials were at least honest in admitting that indeed what I wrote was true, but they justified their action by saying that under the law, they are authorized to extend contracts or awards up to 25 percent of the original volume, adding that they were unable to predict a large surplus. Moreover, they also said that it would take too long to conduct bidding, considering that rice is a perishable item.
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I now for a fact that government executives are not paid as much as their counterparts in the private sector, but that does not mean that we expect lesser from them in terms of capability and performance.

In the private sector, forecasting is a skill that is expected of all managers, and they could lose their jobs for not making the right forecasts, regardless of whether they go above or below these forecasts in the final reckoning. Perhaps up to 5 percent variance could be tolerated in the private sector, but surely a 25 percent variance would already be enough reason to fire anyone for either stupidity or incompetence.
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Rules are made to be broken the skeptics would say, but as we eternally hope that we could still make things work properly in this country, we still hang on to our laws and even make new ones, forever hoping that we could implement these laws, and that we could abide by these.

But of course, laws are objective in nature, and no matter how firm these are; these would always fall victim to the subjective interpretations of those who are prone to betray the public interest. This is the story of the NFA rice hauling scandal, and it is a sad story to tell.
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The NFA-NCR people are correct in saying that it is allowable under the law to extend contracts without bidding, but these exceptions are subject to objective guidelines, and not just dependent on the subjective whims and caprices of any government executive. To begin with, contract extensions are allowed under emergencies, but there appeared to be no emergencies when they used public funds to pay for a service that was not properly authorized. To claim that rice is a perishable item is true to some extent, but rice does not rot in a few days, which is more than the time they need to conduct a bid, if they really wanted to.
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Elections Supervisor Lintang Bedol has gotten away with a minor sentence for a major offense, while House Of Representatives Secretary General Roberto Nazareno seems to be getting away with his equally major offense of allowing un-proclaimed party list nominees to assume their posts in the Congress, and even allowed them to speak on the floor.

At least, Bedol is kind enough to offer us lessons on how to cheat in elections, but what is Nazareno going to teach us? How to cheat in the accreditation of new House members? What is Nazareno going to do if his favored nominees are not proclaimed?
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If the likes of Bedol and Nazareno could just get away with their twisted ways of going around the law, we do not wonder why someone like NFA-NCR Regional Director Jose Cordero could just ignore the law, by invoking “unawareness” as a defense, saying that he and his staff did not expect the volume of rice shipments to go over 25 percent.

For sure, he would know the history of these shipments, in the same way that Nazareno would surely know what rules should be followed in turning away fake congressmen. For whatever it is worth, the NFA has expressed an interest in using the science of Operations Research in improving their forecasting capabilities. Let us see what happens next. In the meantime, they should make sure that their trucking contractors are given fair and equal treatment in their awards.
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