#To do list

The DTI and officials looking after the rights of the elderly, women and PWDs, should pass a rule or EO for ALL stores, all Malls to provide at least three chairs per store for people to rest. It is awfully wrong to have parking slots for PWDs but not seats for PWDs, Senior Citizens, and Pregnant Women. While we are at it, the National as well as local government must issue and require “PWD” vehicles to be registered and be provided with PWD stickers front and back so we can put a stop to the abuse of non-Seniors or PWDs.

Supermarket must be required to limit the number of transactions for people using the Senior Citizens lane. I have seen “Seniors” using the lane when buying supplies for their “sari-sari store.” Because there is usually only one lane, many elderly and infirmed shoppers have to stand in line and the supermarkets don’t even have seats for them.

By the way, the LTFRB should review the imposed discounts they have placed on Taxi’s because I learned from a number of drivers that the 20% + 10% for senior citizens are taken away from the driver’s cut not operators, so what many of them do is pretend they don’t see the elderly and avoid the students!

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Before the next SK and Barangay elections take place, it might be a good idea for the DILG and the Office of the President to launch a reporting program or “Hot line” where people can send feedbacks, complaints and reports about the conduct, performance or character of their Barangay officials and SK officials. By doing this, there would be a way to ferret out or expose people who should not be elected or re-elected in the upcoming local elections. If the PNP has its Oplan Tokhang (knock-knock you’re busted!) then the DILG should have it’s own Oplan isumbong si kapitan.

There has been so much focus on the anti-drug campaign of President Duterte that people have forgotten the other thing that really pisses him off: Corruption. So far the next move is reportedly to review the hot spots and what local officials did to fight drugs or if they were coddlers of drug pushers. The DILG might as well conduct performance audits with COA and invite the local residents to share their intimate knowledge about their Barangay officials.

In the past I have shared the complaints of businessmen operating in Cabuyao, Sta. Rosa, and Calamba all in the province of Laguna where there are a number of manufacturing and industrial plants many of whom have to contribute to the retirement fund of certain barangay captains. These of course are but a speck compared to the nationwide corruption at the barangay level. There is also the issue of widespread graft and waste of government resources. The DILG should really begin a nationwide audit of the wasted vehicles, equipment etc.

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The Office of the Executive Secretary may want to form an official cluster to assess the state of computerization and connectivity of three branches of government and their key offices because after all the money, time and effort put into computerization of various departments and agencies, it is unbelievable that Filipinos who paid billions in the last 20 years to automate government still have to do the walking from agency to agency to get documents required by government.

Last Friday I visited the “Gun show” to buy an air gun and learned that the Philippine National Police has come up with a great way to simplify gun ownership. Instead of having to apply for a license for every gun you buy, you simply do a one-time registration for an LTOPF or License To Own and Possess Firearm/s. The one time system certainly cut a lot of the repetition and “Red Tape” that President Duterte wants removed.

I really admired the LTOPF idea and effort until someone showed me a foot long list of requirements:

MTC & RTC or NBI or National Police Clearance: I appreciate the attempt at brevity but not everybody knows the meaning of abbreviations. The next point would be; If I am applying with an office or Directorate within the PNP, wouldn’t it make more sense for them to independently check an applicant’s background instead of requiring them to produce clearances that can be falsified or facilitated by a friend, relative etc.? Why are we paying for automation or computerization if the National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation can’t connect and communicate regarding a person of interest or an applicant?

DI Clearance or City or Municipal police Clearance: This second reminder also makes the police information system look bad and is a clear example of Red Tape. If there is no Automatic Reporting system or update from our local police office to their regional headquarters to the Philippine National Police HQ, we have a problem and it needs to be dealt with!

The rest of the requirements for LTOPF were standard and if you have time to waste, you don’t have a company to run or don’t have a boss who counts work hours like pesos in his hands, then going from one office to another to get all the certificates should be “fun”-Not!

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I once suggested to Kim Henares that the BIR should implement an “Installment or Deferred Payment system” for settlement of estate taxes. Her problem was “It’s not in the law.” I have been hearing of so many families that have opted to “hide” a death in the family because unlike their previously cash rich parents or grandparents, many of today’s heirs don’t have the money to pay the “current taxable values” of properties because inflation and urban development and artificial valuation by developers have multiplied prices on many properties.

Last week I learned that a family lost their only inheritance to government because they did not have the money to settle the estate tax. It’s bad enough to lose a family member, sort out the estate, pay excessive amounts on tax. But worst of all is to be “robbed” of your inheritance or be forced to act like a criminal because you can’t afford to pay. If it’s not in the law, it is the moral duty of the BIR to do something about it.

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