The Aquino administration launched their vaunted 23 priority bills the other day; a hodge-podge of regulatory oversight bills and tweaks to existing measures. Hardly ground-breaking stuff, but fairly consistent with the stated goals of the Aquino administration. Again though, hardly anything that will change the fortunes of the country and really get down to human resource development (except for the education bill). But, on the whole they are welcome.

And sure, there is some much needed tweaks there in the realm of anti-trust and anti-monopoly measures. Though, that it is highly ironic that he recently met with businessmen, among them acquisition-oriented (It’s mine!) guys like Manny Pangilinan (MVP! MVP!) who has stated he’s on a buying spree and Danding Cojuangco (Coco-farmers can suck it!), who has turned a food and beverage company into…something. I think it’s a sort of conglomerate that now has its fingers in power, land development, telecommunications, infrastructure projects like tollways and railways and beer. All in less than five years. Wonder how they did that?

Business in the Philippine remains a highly top-heavy patronage based affair, especially in the realm of utilities. There are a few conglomerates that control the majority of utilities in the country; not to mention the accommodations that are reached with LGU politicians. Counter-acting this systemic defect is paramount.

The land and maritime bills are good to see. Land rights are one of the major problems within the Philippines. And anyone who has had to deal with land deeds knows how screwed up that department is. It’s incredibly easy to falsify deeds and get away with it. With 25% of land in the Philippines remaining untitled, you can just see how politicians of the past have utilized the disreputable state of land rights in the country to enrich themselves. A good, high profile recent example, is Manny Villar. Along with the illegal conversion of agricultural land for commercial development. Fixing land rights goes to the heart of land reform and asset allocation measures in the country. It can also redound positively in anti-corruption practices.

Not to mention the fact that one of the major developmental problems in the country is unequal asset allocations (which goes right back to the land and monopoly problem).

Maritime stuff, well yes, we only have 5% of our original coral reef cover left intact. The majority of our waterways have been polluted beyond recognition. From an environmental standpoint, this is a disaster of immense proportions that barely gets a mention in the main.

And other anti-corruption stuff like the whistleblowers act and improving AFP oversight are well and good.

But, let’s be honest here, without enabling private sector oversight and counterchecking all of these measures matter little. And by that I mean, where the hell is the Freedom of Information Act?! 

Transparency was supposed to be one of the cornerstones of the Aquino administration; I remember Lacierda even saying that the Aquino administration was planning on issuing an executive order implementing key provisions in the FOIA. That went nowhere fast.

At the risk of being more than slightly bombastic: Why? What is the government hiding? Is this a case of getting into power means that transparency becomes secondary? It wouldn’t be the first time that has happened.

One of the chief criticisms of the Philippine government is not that we have bad laws, it’s that we don’t implement the laws on the books. So, while it is great that these needed small tweaks are being offered, we have to question adherence and application of the laws.

One of the best ways is to enable structures and mechanisms that allow the private sector to evaluate the performance and adherence of the government to its own laws, rules and regulations. 

Corruption flourishes where it is sight unseen. And it will continue to do so. Measures remain unfulfilled promises unless they are implemented and adhered. The FOIA allows the people to make sure that their laws are being complied with. Now, maybe much like other bills they are going to push this through their allies in Congress, since it’s already out there in the public sphere. But, you would suspect that such an important measure would garner something of a mention, somewhere. 

Until transparency and development policies are actual pushed and implemented, the priorities of the government remain similar (though thankfully not exactly the same) to what has come before.