Lazy people use threats

Failing to do their work properly, many government officials often use threats of jail time to convince people to exercise their right, their duty or be part of what’s good for them. Just like in the movie “Easy Rider”, the sheriff decides: “What we have here is the failure to communicate” and resolves the matter through violence. Here in the Philippines, every time the government wants to promote or implement something that will be for the public good, you can almost bet your inheritance that 9 out 10 times, the people in charge will eventually end up saying or “reminding” people that if you don’t cooperate,you could go to jail. That’s the exclamation point: Threats.

I remember several years or was it a decade or so ago when the Commission on Elections was trying to increase the percentage of voters participating in an election, the final argument or threat was that if you don’t vote, if you don’t exercise your right to suffrage, you could end up in jail. In recent times, the same approach has clearly been applied to the government’s mandate for citizens to wear face masks, face shields, to socially distance and follow quarantine rules. National and local officials had to resort to checkpoints, patrols, fines, detention, and military style punishments such as push-ups as well as community service. Last Monday, an official of the Philippine Statistics Authority thought it was a good idea to resort to the threat of jail time for people who might be thinking of resisting or not cooperating in the upcoming census of the PSA.

To be clear, I support each and every concern, as well as the efforts of government officials under the Comelec, IATF and the PSA. But what I have always been critical about is the serious lack or total absence of the “public education component” or “communications and promotions plan” for such important programs and projects. When I started out in media many moons ago, I recall how government representatives, PR people or spokespersons would enlist the help of media and organizations to promote projects or programs. They would do the rounds of “talk show circuits” on TV and radio; there would be forums, motorcades, leaflet distribution and simpler versions of “Town Hall Meetings”. But equally as important to all that activity is the need for government officials and policy makers to actually “communicate to the public on their terms and their reality”. Today they have gone “LAZY”, relying mostly on social media!

For the longest time governments have had a problem convincing many people to vote. They say people are lazy. Are they? Or is it because they don’t see the value of their right, they are not reminded of the men and women and generations of people who fought hard and died for freedom or the right to choose leaders and not just exercise the right to vote, the women who went to jail because they wanted women to have the right to vote. They are not reminded of the years of darkness under foreign occupation or under a dictatorship. They are not reminded of lopsided results leading to poor governance because you stayed home. We need to create value for the vote.

The same goes for the “minimum health standards” required by government. In the good old days of better public education and information, people were first informed of why you needed to use certain things or products, where to get them, how to use them and back then, the authorities made sure that there were volunteer champions and celebrity endorsers who would use their popularity and influence in order to save lives and promote good health practices. The day government officials started paying “talent fees” for “endorsers” was the day taxpayers got scammed and ruined the spirit of volunteerism and community spirit. After awhile, ambitious politicians and bureaucrats gunning for promotion or higher office presented themselves as endorsers and icons and destroyed the integrity of government communication.

So here we are, struggling to get public cooperation and resorting to threats in order to convince people to participate and cooperate in the upcoming census. Yes, we should remind people that refusing to be a respondent in the national census is considered a “crime punishable with imprisonment of up to one year”. Just by writing that sentence, I actually achieved the goal. But, I did not say why people should participate and what benefits do they get from it. That is what the PSA should front load in their messaging. The data collected will be vital information that will guide Congress and the Executive department in allocating budget or funds for projects relative to communities. For instance, the number of senior citizens and their age will help government create the projections or algorithms for funds and financial support. It will help in the provision and distribution of equipment such as ambulances, fire trucks, patrol cars, primary healthcare and budgets for public schools. If anything we should have all learned from our experience with the Social Amelioration Program funds where there turned out to be more people in need than the government and Congress assumed. Such data will help us cope in a major disaster such as an intensity 7 or 8 earthquake to figure out who’s alive, missing, in need of assistance, etc. Data for special children or single parents and the like will increase the chances that there is better funding and better assistance on the ground.

If we want people to cooperate, begin by telling them “What’s in it for them”.  I close this with a quote from Charles Caleb Colton who said: “Those who are loudest in their threats are the weakest in their actions”.

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