Communication
TO be effective, the government must keep the public informed of its activities, programs and policies, and citizens must be able to communicate their concerns to all levels of government with ease. With accurate information, the public can make better choices during elections, will be more supportive of government initiatives, and will generally be more content with the national leadership.
In an environment where people do not know their rights and entitlements, and where they don’t know what the government is required to do, corruption and abuse thrive and isolated communities are easily controlled by antigovernment elements, criminals and crooked politicians. A system must be developed to effectively link the national government with every municipality in the country. This should not require additional infrastructure or budget. The issue is more procedural than physical.
Armed with knowledge and information available through such a system, citizens will be better able to defend themselves against corrupt officials and will be more likely to report wrongdoing. Rumors, which sow confusion and discontent, can be properly dismissed and replaced with facts.
The Philippines’s official Internet domain, www.gov.ph, is a wonderful source of information and links to many government agencies, and it represents a tremendous leap forward for the country. But it is only the first step in the use of the Internet as a portal through which government can communicate with every citizen in the nation, and vice versa.
Communicating with Philippine government agencies through the Internet is currently a hit-and-miss proposition. Most agencies and local governments maintain some form of Internet presence, but there is little uniformity. Some use an official gov.ph domain name, while others use Facebook or a commercial “dot com” address.
In some cases, the only way to communicate with a local government unit is through the mayor’s personal Facebook account, or personal Gmail or Yahoo!
e-mail address. Government agencies and officials rarely reply to e-mail communications. This creates the not-entirely-incorrect perception that the
government is not responsive to its citizens’ requests and demands.
Professionalizing the government’s Internet presence is an important step toward professionalizing the Philippine government itself.
All government entities, down to the municipal level, must be required to maintain an official web site, under the gov.ph domain, containing specific mandatory information and communication channels. Uniformity is critical, and each of these sites should follow a standard format, designed to be easily maintained, and easily navigated. This does not require specialized software, special training, or additional budget. It simply requires a policy
and enforcement.
With a predesigned format distributed by the national government, every community with Internet access can have its web site up and running in a few hours at most. A few minutes each day, or even each week, is all it takes to update the information on the site.
Some examples of information that should be published on these sites
include:
- Fiscal records;
- Legislative agendas and updates; Progress reports on projects, including photographs;
- Transparency information on government tenders and bids;
- Attendance records for elected and appointed officials;
- Schedules and minutes of meetings and hearings;
- Crime statistics and records;
- Fees, requirements and procedures for all government services;
- Bulletin boards advertising government and private job openings;
- Anonymous corruption-reporting links;
- Complaint and issues reporting links;
- E-mail links to allow citizens to communicate easily with all levels of government; and
- Links to other government web sites.
Government officials must be required to reply to all citizen communications, whether received by e-mail, letter, or telephone. They must also be required to provide a tracking number a) as proof of receipt, and b) to provide a reference for follow-up. Requiring government officials to acknowledge and log citizen communications will dramatically improve their accountability to the public.
Most of the information listed above is information that each government office already maintains—or is supposed to maintain. Requiring them, by law, to post their facts and figures on a publicly accessible web site in a standardized format will force them into a new level of accountability. This forced transparency will also introduce a new check-and-balance element into government operations. Local citizens will be able to spot discrepancies between the posted information and the reality on the ground. The system will also help keep reports to higher headquarters accurate and factual. Higher headquarters can even use these web sites to receive and collate reports and statistics with almost real-time accuracy. Reporting data that is already two to three years old must become a thing of the past.
Leadership
THE Philippines has the potential to be a great country. To be honest, it should have been a great country long ago. But in truth, the Philippines is its own worst enemy—an animal that eats its own children. Although it is possible for a Filipino to lift himself up, the truth is, the Philippine “system,” through its inefficiency, waste and corruption, keeps him in poverty.
What the country lacks, and has always lacked, is system-wide professional management. A strong leader takes control, and requires the entire management corps, from top to bottom, to do the same. A strong leader does not compromise ethics and does not tolerate poor performance. A strong leader enforces the law, with a management team based purely on qualification and ability, ignoring friendship and patronage. A strong leader knows that the difference between corruption and honesty is really nothing more than a conscious choice.
Six years may not be enough time to solve all the ills that plague the Philippines, but if used wisely and professionally, it is more than enough time to create a rock-solid foundation upon which a new, great nation can rise.
A foundation that cannot be “undone” by any succeeding administration.
Michael Brown has lived over 16 years in the Philippines. He writes on English, traffic management, law enforcement and more recent, the government. Follow him on Twitter at @M_i_c_h_a_e_l.