|
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Osmeña: Threat against Cebu’s real estate industry
By Antonio V. Osmeña
Estatements
Cebu’s real estate industry is being threatened by the bureaucratic red tape.
A government bureau is created in response to a specific problem. In its early stage, a small yet vigorous agency with dynamic leadership makes progress. But as it grows, its effectiveness and sense of mission wane.
Eventually, the agency becomes so large, complex and rigid that it chokes on all the highly specialized rules and regulations it has created. To aggravate its predicament, there is the low morale that usually affects many government employees.
The bureaucratic bottleneck becomes more complicated because of graft and corruption. Consider the case of a parcel of land located along Labangon creek that was sold.
Records at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) tax mapping section reveal that the said lot is within the jurisdiction of Barangay Banawa. But upon verification with City Hall, it was learned that said lot was after all wi-thin the jurisdiction of Barangay Labangon.
After the issue of jurisdiction was finally resolved following weeks of confrontation with the BIR, the matter was prepared for the processing of transfer of title certificate by the Register of Deeds.
Unfortunately, there’s red tape again, starting with the government employee who demands for a certified true-copy of all documents presented to him or her. Once this and other requirements have been complied with, the government employee promised that the title will be ready on April 28. But when the day came, the title was still not signed because the director was attending a seminar.
The real estate industry is crucial to the economic progress of Cebu. The Register of Deeds should stop creating problems for the real estate industry.
Many government regulations are necessary to protect the environment and consumers from abuse by private business.
However, many would agree that the number and complexity of government regulations can and should be reduced.
Because of bureaucratic overspecialization, government has become an enormous organism composed of separate cells of experts that are often remote from people and are unable to see the overall picture. They would compete rather than cooperate with one another and are incapable of dealing with the multiplicity of interlocking problems that characterize society today.
Throughout Philippine history, however, the really important politics has been that of making the seemingly impossible—or the highly improbable—possible.
True politics, then, is the art of creating new possibilities for human progress.
Unfortunately, in our country, the “art of the possible” that most politicians focus on is making their own reelection possible. But how do we get from the seemingly impossible to the possible?
The bureaucratic bottleneck has become a culture because of the failure to impose bureaucratic reforms. A number of observers have pointed out that most attempts at bureaucratic reforms are ineffective or temporary, or both.
Reforms that have been suggested to reduce bureaucracy and increase efficiently include (1) exempting half of all annual replacements from turnover from civil service protection, (2) streamlining the procedure for dismissal, (3) overhauling the evaluation and merit raise system, (4) appointing more high level department officials, (5) providing more effective, protective and bigger rewards for “whistleblowers” who expose fraud and wastage in government.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 17, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
