Where’s the disconnect?

The Makati Business Club (MBC) released to the public last Monday the results of its in-house survey to gauge the performance of government agencies they deal with in the conduct of their business. A total of 62 government agencies, including the Office of the President (OP), the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the Supreme Court (SC), and the two chambers of the 16th Congress were among those covered in the 2014 MBC survey.

During this MBC survey conducted from July 1 to 25 this year, there were burning national issues that may have influenced public perception of certain government agencies. It took place during the period after the SC announced its decision on the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP); investigations on rice smuggling and hoarding began; the government peace panel resumed talks on the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law; and typhoon Glenda crossed Luzon, resulting in power outages and rotating blackouts.

Naturally, the SC ranking in the MBC survey jumped from the previous 51 to 23 while Department of Budget and Management (DBM) nosedived from rank 4 to 50.

According to the MBC’s Executive Outlook Survey for the Second Semester, senior business executives gave high marks for 43 out of these 62 government agencies in terms of perception in the performance of their front-line services rendered to the public.

There was no MBC survey on the same subject done last year. So the results were compared to the last survey done in 2012. The net performance rankings of 31 other government agencies showed a decline. The OP dropped from rank 14 to 36; and the OVP rank went down to 33 from 8.

But the biggest loser was the Senate. From a high ranking of No. 14, it became the cellar dweller and occupied the last spot.

The other agencies that posted the largest decline in net satisfaction ranking were the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, House of Representatives; and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

In this year’s MBC survey, the business executives gave anew the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) the highest approval rating. MBC executive director Peter Perfecto was quoted saying the BSP maintained its position as the best performing government agency because “of its role in helping maintain macroeconomic and financial stability in the business environment.”

The 10 best performing agencies included: the Department of Tourism (DOT); Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA); Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA); Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA); Department of Health (DOH); Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP); Department of Finance (DOF), and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). 

On the other hand, the rest of the bottom 10 were: the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR); the lower court system; Philippine National Police (PNP); Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC); Bureau of Customs, and the Commission on Appointments.     

Perfecto noted that DOST-PAGASA, OPAPP, and the newly organized PSA “have made surprisingly impressive debuts in the business scorecard of government performance” for the first time these agencies were included in the MBC survey. Also included in the survey for the first time was OPARR, headed by former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, which landed 59th in the MBC survey with net score of negative 60 percent. But the MBC executive failed to clarify the OPARR is a new government agency created only in December last year unlike PAGASA, OPAPP and PSA.

The latest MBC survey was a few days before President Aquino delivered his penultimate state of the nation address (SONA) last July 28.

In his fifth SONA, President Aquino was profuse in his praises to many of these government agencies and specially mentioned his Cabinet members concerned.

Among those given so much credit for a job well done by President Aquino was the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) headed by Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. Citing the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, the President noted the number of strikes per year has been limited to less than ten since 2010.

The President said this is the positive result of the Single entry Approach of DOLE through which filed labor cases go through a 30-day conciliation-mediation period. “The good news: out of 115 notices of strike and lockout in 2013, only one pushed through. This is the lowest number of strikes in the history of DOLE,” the President pointed out. P-Noy credited Baldoz and the DOLE family, as well as the labor and management sectors for it.

“Secretary Baldoz and I were joking in around 2012 that there were two strikes, and in 2013 there was just one. I said, “Linda, in 2014, a half-strike won’t do. Maybe we can strive for no strikes?” P-Noy quipped.

While it is true there has been relative peace in the country’s industrial front, I was still tempted to rebut P-Noy’s take on why there are no more labor strikes and work stoppages in factories and offices. Mr. President, these labor leaders are now all in Congress, that’s why.  

They are now party-list representatives of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP); OWWA, DIWA, OFW Family, to name some of them. At one time, the left-leaning Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) even had party-list representatives during the previous Congresses.

That’s why also Mr. President, these militant labor groups and the left-leaning party-list representatives could afford to conduct well-organized protest rallies and put up your look-alike effigies to burn every year of your SONA.

What is perplexing though, DOLE’s ranking in the same MBC survey from tenth place in 2012 dipped to No. 22 this year. The DOLE’s success to ensure industrial peace in the country obviously was not appreciated by the big corporate executives of the MBC.

The MBC survey covered 65 senior business executives of its members. This represented 8.8 percent of MBC’s 736 individual members. Obviously, the sample size of respondents in the survey was negligible to say the least. 

These MBC companies are supposed to benefit from such an ideal situation. So where’s the disconnect?