‘Provincial independence’

Ike Señeres

THE Local Government Code (LGC) already partially empowers our provincial governments to become autonomous, and we do not even have to pass new laws to give them autonomy. This is as simple as saying that they already have most of what they need to become independent, but due to many reasons, they are still inclined to remain dependent on the national government. It has been said that sovereignty could never be taken away by an outside force, because sovereignty resides in the hearts and minds of the people, and it is up to them to express their sovereignty by way of their political will. Of course, sovereignty is a national matter and it does not apply to the provincial level, but the essence of the meaning is the same, because the people of a province could have their own autonomy in their hearts and minds, and all they need is to express it by way of their own political will.

I say partially, because up to now, the provincial governments are still heavily dependent on their Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs), and the local offices of National Government Agencies (NGAs) are still performing many of the functions that the Local Government Units (LGUs) could very well do on their own. In a manner of speaking, it could be said that what we have is a hybrid situation, because there is an apparent division of labor between the NGAs and LGUs, with both doing their share of what has to be done. I am not saying that what is happening now is wrong. What I am actually saying is that the LGUs should already start weaning themselves from the NGAs, because it is time for the baby to grow up, and it is time for the babysitter to move on and do more meaningful things.

In theory, a province could be considered as a holding company composed of many municipalities that are in effect their member companies. Actually it could be said that a provincial government is already structurally ready to function as a private corporation, because it has a Provincial Board that could practically function as a Board of Directors. It also has a Provincial Development Council (PDC) that could practically function as a Board of Advisers. Aside from their own revenues and its IRA shares, the provinces also get shares from its component cities (except the independent cities, even if the latter are still located within their geographic limits). What that means is that the provinces actually have the financial resources to become functionally independent.

Perhaps no one is thinking about it yet, but I think that it is about time that the provinces should now make it part of their objectives to become fully independent in providing basic utilities to the residents of all their component towns and cities. In line with these objectives, I suggest that they should include four basic utilities namely Water, Internet, Food and Electricity—or WIFE for short. As it is now, Water and Electricity are already considered as basic utilities, but Internet and Food are not. In so many ways, there is already a growing acceptance that Internet is already a basic utility. In the case of Food however, it is generally considered as a basic necessity, but why not categorize it as a basic utility also?

Under the Water District Law, provinces could form their own water district and what that means is that they already have the legal framework to have water independence. As it is already happening now, there are already electric cooperatives that are serving entire provinces, and that is why it could be said that the provinces are already positioned to become energy independent. That statement has to be qualified however, because most of these electric cooperatives are still getting their electricity from the national grid. In order to become fully energy independent, these electric cooperatives have to start producing their own power, hopefully with the support of their provincial governments.

Very recently, the national government announced that it will provide free public Wi-Fi to third class, fourth class, fifth class and sixth class municipalities. What that means is that the first class and second class municipalities would have to rely on commercial providers, or put up their own. It seems that the lower class municipalities are the “missionary” areas that are not being served by the commercial providers, hence the justification of the national government to go into this type of business. On their part, the provincial government should make it their objective to provide internet signals where the national government could not, in order for the provinces to become internet independent.

There are many reasons why the provinces should make it part of their objectives to become food independent, each reason equally important as the other. The first reason is food security. It is about time that we apply the principle of subsidiarity to food security, by declaring that food security should start at the provincial level. The second reason is food safety. The more local the sources of food items are, the safer they are. The fourth reason is health. The more local the sources of food are, the fresher they are and therefore healthier. The fifth reason is livelihood. The more we buy locally grown food, the more we provide livelihood to the local farmers. The sixth reason is environment. The more we buy locally grown food, the more carbon credits we will earn, and at the same time, we lessen the impact of climate change.

For all intents and purposes, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) could become the provincial Water Czar. The Provincial General Services Officer could become the Internet Czar. The Provincial Agriculturist could become the Food Czar. The provincial Engineer could become the Electricity Czar. Regardless of how they would do it and who they would assign to do it, the provinces must now move to become independent in Water, Internet, Food and Electricity. In the case of electricity, the provinces should move away from coal and petroleum based power generation, and move towards renewable energy sources namely wind, solar, hydro, dendro and geothermal. Waste to energy could be another option, if only the corruption in the garbage hauling system could be stopped.

Email: bantaygobyerno-subscribe@yahoogroups.com