Technology and morality

Ike Señeres

I REMEMBER that many years ago, the government at that time bought a very expensive traffic management technology from Australia and the word in the street at that time was that it was going to be the Holy Grail of the traffic problems that we have been having even during that time. Since then, it is all history now and fast forward, we still have the traffic problem with us and as a matter of fact, it has even gotten worse. Looking back, it would be easy to suspect that some corrupt official at that time just wanted to make some big money and did not really care whether the technology would really solve the problem or not. On the other hand, we could also say that no matter how advanced the technologies we will acquire to solve the traffic problem, it could not be solved not unless we ourselves would start obeying the traffic rules. The real problem here is that immorality in the form of corruption and civil disobedience has resulted in the failure of technology.

Generally speaking, it could be said that the prices of goods and services in the Philippines should be comparable to the prices of the same goods and services everywhere else in the world. If ever there would be variances in the prices, it should not differ too much. The quality of the goods and services is another issue, but as a general rule of thumb, the higher the quality, the higher the price could be. That does not seem to be the case in the Philippines, because there are many examples here of products and services that have lower quality, and yet their prices are too high. For example, it seems that it is only in the Philippines that the price of internet is highest, and yet it is said to be the slowest in the world, reportedly second only to Afghanistan. Well, that country has an excuse because they are in a state of war, but we are not.

As it is supposed to be, a telecoms franchise is supposed to be granted only as a privilege and not as a vested right. That being the case, the grant of the privilege comes with certain conditions, and also with many rules and regulations. As it is also supposed to be, the government is supposed to regulate the telecoms franchisees, so that they would meet the conditions of their grant, and comply with all rules and regulations. That being the case, we could have reasonably expected that the quality of telecoms and internet services in the Philippines should be at the highest, and the prices should be at the lowest. The very fact that it is not happening is a big puzzle to me. What is also a puzzle to me is that the majority shares of these telecoms franchises are owned by honourable men and women, and yet they do not seem to see any dishonour in their betrayal of their obligations.

Under normal circumstances, it could be said that if only the telecoms franchises would comply with the conditions of their grants on their own, then there would no longer be any need for too much regulation by government. In the event that the managers of the telecoms franchises would fall short of their compliance, we could rely on the righteous actions of the board of directors, given the fact that as an extra layer of protection, they are supposed to decide on the side of the consumers, under the rules of good governance, corporate governance that is. On top of that all, we should note that the products and services of the telecoms franchises could also be regulated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). In other words, consumers could also complain to the DTI, aside from complaining to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

I am sure that a third telecoms major player would be good for the country, but that should come with the assurance that government regulations would be enforced not only to the third player, but also to the two other players. For so long now, I have been trying to find an explanation as to why the prices of telecoms and internet services in the Philippines are very high, and yet the quality of services are very low. After much study and consideration, I have concluded that the real reason is GREED, and there is no other reason. Perhaps it could be said that the reason could be inefficiency, but we could definitely rule out that other reason, because our local engineers could surely do what their foreign counterparts could do, and perhaps they could do even better. The problem is, these engineers are not involved in corporate policy, even if they are involved in technology. In closing, I could say that even if we have the highest technology, we could not improve products and services in the Philippines if we have the lowest morality.

E-mail: iseneres@yahoo.com