The best of government in 2010 was a little memo

THE best of government cannot be found in the things that government propagandists advertise as great. The reason is simple. The great and breakthrough initiatives often come in dry and little memos framed in legalese. And are too bland to get the notice of the mainstream media.

And the little memo I referred to in the headline as the “best of government” last year was short and succinct, about an issue most urban types do not even know about: farm-to-market roads.

Specifically, it is a memo from the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) ordering the infrastructure agencies implementing farm-to-market roads to make sure that the cemented portion of these roads is at least 75 percent—with only 25 percent allowable for sand and gravel.

As most memos from the bureaucratic machine come, it was dry and boring and routine. But a trained journalist aware of its context can write a page 1 story about it with this lead:

“The government of President Aquino, in a bold effort to check waste and misuse of government funds, today stopped the practice of using congressional earmarks to construct frail gravel roads in the rural areas which anti-graft groups claim to be the single most wasteful expenditure in the national budget.”

After the lead, the trained journalist can go on to the details: on the billions of pesos wasted on frail and fraying gravel roads every year, on the huge commissions pocketed by the legislator-proponents of the FMRs (whose commission is on the average 40 percent of the contract cost), on the findings of anti-graft watchdogs on FMR-related corruption and on how the new rules would upgrade farm infrastructure.

Then, he or she can go to actual figures to support the claim that money wasted on easy-to-disappear gravel roads has, indeed, been the single, most wasteful drain on the yearly national budget.

The little memo that gives structural integrity to farm-to-market roads spreads economic sense all over and in a major way.
Government saves billions of pesos of taxpayers’ money every year as it does away with the wasteful practice of rehabilitating gravel FMRs that hollow out after a minor flood.

The practice lays down the foundation for a permanent and durable road network that links the farms with the markets and the buying centers.

The memo helps moderate the greed of the pork barrel-centric legislators, who use the hefty commissions from gravel road construction to fund their vote-buying activities. Maybe, just maybe, these pork barrel-centric legislators would be “dismayed” with “kaunting kita” politics altogether.

A briefer on the congressional pork barrel would make people appreciate—in a major, major way—the high purpose and major economic impact the little memo would have on the government’s anti-corruption and pro-integrity efforts.
You see, the pork barrel and the massage parlors (are they still around or do they go by the name spa now?) have some equivalencies.

The pork barrel—as with the massage they give at parlors—can be had in two kinds, the so-called “hard” portion and the so-called “soft” one. Which is which at the massage parlors is self-explanatory. What needs further explaining is what the “hard” and “soft” components of the pork barrel are.

The “soft” portion of congressional pork is the smaller of the yearly allocation going to legislators. It can be used to fund scholarship programs, medical assistance, etc., etc. It is malleable and, as such, it can be expropriated for personal use with the flimsiest of covers. But the amount is negligible.

The big portion goes to the “hard” component, which essentially means the pet infrastructure projects of the legislator. This is usually a road, a bridge, a school building, a health center or a multi-purpose pavement. All of these generate commissions for the legislator. And of these project categories, nothing generates more commission than the gravel road—which has been practically outlawed by the little memo from the PMS.

For those who do not know yet, Mr. Rogelio Singson, the public works secretary, has received congressional wrath over the little memo. This has not played out in the media but it is true.

Angry legislators have been cajoling Mr. Singson to tame down the memo, mostly delivered in wrathful tone, to reduce the level of mix to 60-40. Meaning, the gravel potion should be 60 percent instead of 25 percent. And the cemented portion should be 40 percent instead of 75 percent.

To his credit, Mr. Singson has refused. And to the legislators who have been requesting for the reassignment of the engineers that follow the little memo strictly, Mr. Singson has a stock answer: they will stay where they are.
So far, so good.

The little memo, a great act that has yet to receive public acknowledgement, reminds people of the lines of Thomas Gray. He wrote about a “gem of purest ray serene” that is hidden from the public view and rests “in the dark unfathomed caves.”

Of course, the little memo is not elegant words and poetry. But the dry and brief prose is compelling enough and is a game-changer in the fight against corruption and waste. –MARLEN V. RONQUILLO, Manila Times

mvrong@yahoo.com