Last week I wrote about how our ancestors knew how to make use of earth, wind, water, and fire, elements, vital to the sustenance of life. Now under present conditions the potentials for human development as well as the problems that beset us revolve mostly about the what, the how, the where, and the when etc., of these elements.
For starters, lets take agriculture. Naturally it involves earth, which includes the land or the soil in which we grow products like rice. Wind can include the dry and wet season which also determines the availability of water, typhoons, etc. And fire (energy) for various uses to fuel engines, tractors, trucks, and other machines to produce and process agricultural products. It also includes infrastructures involving impounding of water for the production of energy for industrial, agricultural use, and human consumption. In fact, one can say that the elements are so inter-related that it is difficult to conceive the exploitation of one without the other.
What am I saying? When government, which is the principal source of initiatives and funding, implements a particular infrastructure in order to attain a certain objective, it must think of all the elements involved in the project. For example, all this beef about the lack of water in Angat Dam both for agriculture and power generation would have been avoided had there been a thorough study of what was needed for the first phase, the second phase, etc. In short, was or is there a 5-10 year plan to develop our water resources for all human requirements? If there was, why was it not implemented? Was it because of lack of funds, or was the depletion of the money caused by overpriced infrastructure? Was it poor judgment or lack of political will? Was it because of neglect of an existing facility?
For example, I've said this before... the Philippine National Railways (PNR) during the Magsaysay and Garcia administrations was efficiently run. Imagine after World War II, our government was able to rehabilitate the PNR lines from La Union to Legaspi City in Albay. I cannot forget the First Class train ride from the Tutuban Station in Manila to Baguio City ages ago. To send us off, the PNR band played martial music just like what we have seen in the classical movies of the departure of luxury liners crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The PNR air-conditioned trains were similar to what we also saw in the movies. Their seats and interiors were decorated in velvet and in the manner that was considered luxurious for that period. And guess who was at Tutuban Station to see to it that everything was in order, Colonel Peling Zosa, the president of PNR. When we arrived in Damortis, La Union, if memory serves, the First Class passengers were brought to Baguio by limousines and the Economy Class by aircon buses. For the trip back the same arrangements applied.
After the Garcia administration, the beginning of the end for PNR began. How? It was the new Manager and Board of Directors who appointed 3,000 casual employees mostly from the Northern Regions. Can you imagine if the PNR was operated properly up to the present? We would be spending very much less for the present contract for a new railroad, which is only up to Clark, Pampanga.
Consider this, that it is not just corruption, but also politics and incompetence that has brought us where we are today. rene.espina@hotmail.com
