Unity in governance

BANTAY GOBYERNO
Ike Señeres

MANILA -- A new show will soon replace the old Government Financial Institutions (GFI) show in the Global News Network (GNN), also known as the GFI Hour.

I am going to produce this new show that will be named Government United in Action (GUIA). It will be a show about the entire government being united in its action to deliver programs, projects and services to the Filipino people.

This unity will take the following forms: (1) Unity of the Executive and Legislative branches. (2) Unity of the national government and the local government units (LGUs). (3) Unity of the mainstream government agencies and the government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and (4) Unity of the civilian government and the military establishment.

GUIA will be a live weekly show every Monday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM. I am planning to have one theme for each week, as follows: Week One, Unity in the Social Agenda. Week Two: Unity in the Economic Agenda. Week Three: Unity in the Political Agenda. Week Four: Unity in the Scientific Agenda.

The idea of unity in the scientific agenda might sound alien to many of us, but we do need to have a clear agenda for science and technology in our country, in order for us to progress and keep pace with the other developing countries. In the usual practice of the government, the social agenda and the economic agenda are usually lumped together as the socio-economic agenda.

The importance of the political agenda is not pronounced, and the scientific agenda is usually not mentioned. In the case of GUIA, I propose that the more practical approach is to combine the socio-political agenda on one hand and the techno-economic agenda on the other hand.

It is good to know that both the Legislative and Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) and the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) have started meeting again under the new administration. LEDAC and PCSD were very active during the past administrations, but both practically died under the Arroyo regime. In a manner of speaking, the LEDAC somehow enables us to have the functionality of having a parliamentary system of government without resorting to Charter change.
Aside from being the producer of GUIA, I will also be producing the newly improved daily GNN coverage of the House and Senate proceedings, now known as CONGRESS TV. In the past years, the usual practice was to just install fixed cameras in the session hall, and no reporters and commentators were assigned. This time around, we will be interviewing the Congressmen and Senators about their bills and resolutions, before and after the sessions.

This new format of CONGRESS TV will give all private citizens and interest groups to participate more in the legislative process. As time and resources would allow, we will also cover the LEDAC meetings, so we could report the complete picture of the process as it flows.

In fairness to the lawmakers, we are going to submit our questions to them ahead of time, so that they could study the questions in advance. My own show KA IKING LIVE will also be renamed soon to ASEAN POLITICS, to take advantage of the expanded reach of G-SAT all over Asia. Two new shows, ASEAN ENVIRONMENT and ASEAN TRAVEL are also planned.

Dr. Ernesto Gonzales wrote: Please count me in as one of your resource persons for GUIA. I know the issue because this had been the focus of my scholarship and eventually dissertation and published by the London School of Economics (LSE). This is a strategic move to influence the dynamics of narrow conflicts as is common to democratic system in order to realign to the bigger dimensions of nationhood for the country.

Yes, media through your TV program could provide a strong indirect force to unify all sectoral efforts towards a unity of action for our much awaited convergence of concerns and passions to start working to build the Philippine nation. A unified framework is urgent. The Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) which is based on the Neoclassical Philosophy of the Free Market Forces to industrialize our country is currently on a freeze with Civil Society advocates.

In this area of the unified framework, you need a mastery of the Sustainable Development Philosophy. I will send you a copy of my research done at the LSE about this dilemma of humanity today. The title of this paper is "Piloting a Unified Framework of Sustainable Development: Asian Perspective Philippine Experience.
This was published by LSE last 2005, but nobody appreciated it in the Philippines. Maybe it was written well ahead of its time. Your current search is related to it.
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