The Politics of Reform
As soon as I entered the session hall at the People’s Development Academy, Fr. Paking asked me to speak to the participants at the Cooperative Management Course: “Tell them the point you used to tell us about one special advantage of being married.”
I was a bit puzzled at his choice of topic. Why ask me to talk about marriage? Part of the answer was on the powerpoint slide on the screen: “Married people are happier than unmarried people.” That was one of the research findings about happiness which they were discussing and they were having fun teasing him just before I arrived. Since he is an unmarried priest and I am a married laicized priest, am I happier than he is?
It took me a while to recall what he wanted me to share. It’s what Girlie and I say to each other, that a life-partner is someone to whom you dare to brag about yourself. Pwedeng magmayabang. But I immediately added something which I said is even better, describing how Girlie and I describe our most intimate wishes and goals in life to each other.
Just before lunch, newly-elected senator Chiz Escudero addressed the group and answered questions, using the PDA teleconferencing facilities. I was surprised to hear that there are bills in the Senate seeking to compel the electric coops to register with the Cooperative Development Authority. Fr. Paking asked him to convey the sentiments of the coops to be left free to make their choice as given by the EPIRA law – to register as a stock corporation with the SEC, to register as a stock cooperative with the CDA, or to keep their present status and relationship with the NEA.
Chiz promised to convey the coops position at the senate committeee hearing chaired by another newly-elected senator, Migs Zubiri. I was curious and asked around, “Who is pushing for compulsory registration with the CDA?”
Someone said that it could be the older Zubiri, since he has been pushing FIBECO in Bukidnon to register as a stock cooperative with the CDA. “That is a way to make it easier for him to control the coop.”
In the afternoon session, NEA deputy admininstrator Jun Pan briefed the newly-elected directors about their powers and responsibilities under the law. The formal descriptions are fairly straightforward, and are not much different from those of board members of corporations, public or private.
What is not reflected in the formal language is a very important reality – the politics that operates among the board members themselves and in relation to the coop management and member-consumers, and the politics of local and national politicians, including other influential civic and religious leaders.
This adds to the challenge faced by board directors who want to push an agenda of reform in their coops. There are times when needed reform measures get blocked, not just because of vested interests of other board members, but also because of factional politics.
In the past, the political dynamics operate in the election of board directors, in the choice or dismissal of general managers, in the hiring and firing of personnel, and intersect with issues of corruption in procurement, collection efficiency, reduction of systems loss etc. EPIRA added new dynamics e.g. directors and politicians who want to evade NEA audit and supervision can accelerate their switch to CDA.
It is naive and unrealistic to wish politics away in pushing for reforms. What we seek is to make politics serve the reform agenda, rather than be the dominant consideration, at the expense of reforms. I recall the first aphorism I learned during my work with the FFF in pushing for land reform: “Learn to combine the power of principle with the principle of power.”
When we scan the electric coops that are performing poorly, there is a clear correlation between high systems loss and low collection efficiency with the prevalence of partisan and vested politics.
Just before writing this post, I checked the blog of Mayor Jesse Robredo of Naga City and found that his latest post is about the electric coop serving his area – CASURECO II. He describes the woes of his constituency who are also member-consumers of the coop, and despairs about the current management and board to the point of asking that NEA should take over the running of the coop, even though it would be a step back from the democratic governance that he prefers.
To keep the focus on the needed reforms and avoid the color of partisan politics, he does not mention that the coop leaders he criticizes are identified with rival political leaders. I asked Jun Pan for background on the coop, since he is from Bicol, and he says that what is happening in CASURECO II is similar to the situation in most of the coops in Bicol.
The two of us travel to Camarines Sur on Friday to attend a conference on the power sector. Convened by the Ateneo de Naga, it intends to gather leaders who will advocate a reform agenda that will improve the electric services in Bicol.
I hope that they will find a way to make the reform agenda something that politicians from both sides of the political divide will want to identify themselves with. The church leaders involved in this initiative can find inspiration and guidance from the biblical injunction “to be simple like doves and clever like serpents.”
