I arrived at this idea when I heard that another government institution, the National Food Authority, is being suggested to be privatized. So far, we have lots of government institutions that had already been privatized or were made private for a time; Napocor, North and South Super highway , Light Rail and Metro Rail Transits, University of the Philippines (semi), and Petron. Some government institutions, if not fully privatized are using private companies for some services.
The Philippine situation is really very unique. These government institutions are no doubt very potent institutions. They can generate much income for the government if only they were honestly and well managed. Because of this, funding should not be a problem. The viability and feasibility of the operation would give a guarantee to any financial institution to provide funding. Furthermore, because it is a government institution, there is no question about its patronization.
So why privatize? Our government is not good in management? Then why the attempt to take over Meralco? Only to offer it to private companies again? Operational expense is not an acceptable reason because it boils down again in good management. I believe the main reason why profitable government institutions are not progressing is because of so many corruptions from top to bottom. What is the difference between privately run and government corporation? Government can afford, in fact they possess, top caliber people. Government can afford to send them to prestigious learning institutions to train and study. Government can have the best people. Therefore, it can function and operate at its optimum. The citizenry would be all support for such moves. In the end, they will be the one who will profit from it. But then again, why is it not happening? Why resort to privatization? If some corporations would accept the offer, for what reason would they accept it that government could not see or could not do?
Only one logical conclusion could be arrived at here; why don't we just privatize our vital institutions; the executive, judiciary, and the legislative or all main departments. If we believe that institutions would be ran better by private companies, then let us just privatized the government of our country. Lots of benefits would be acquired; corruption will be addressed considerably (we can easily change a corrupt institution because they are under our employ), the best personnel will be required, budget will be transparent and wisely used, not much red tape because decisions are always urgent and necessary. In other words, those involved in operations are always on their toes because they are being paid for it. So, instead of a president, we will have a salaried CEO. We will operate like any other company.
But where will that leave us? Is being a country only about progress? Can heritage, tradition, sovereignty, patriotism, and the like be just left to some people to preserve or be relegated to history and memory? Definitely not. Hopefully not. But the way we are going, it seems that we are going to that direction.
No matter how attractive is privatization, the government of the people, by the people and for the people is still the best. What we need is a changed in ourselves. We may have all the changes and expertise we need, but if we do not change our corrupt, selfish and unpatriotic attitudes, we would be where we were before and worse, will be on a rapid decline.
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