By Farah G. Decano

 

THE COVID pandemic has demonstrated that many things are possible if only we set our minds on making them real.  The alternatives we developed during the height of the contagion were not necessarily inferior to present processes.  Some are, in fact, brilliant.  I am hoping for the continuity of these measures even after this dreadful virus has been overcome.

Work from home (WFH) is a great substitute set-up which should continue for those whose jobs do not need personal presence in their offices.  Even after Covid has been reduced to a mere common virus, the reduction of people going to their workplaces will mean less traffic, less consumption of gas, and less pollution.  Through this system of WFH, environmental concerns and the need for adequate public spaces are somehow addressed.

Attending webinars from the workplace is also an excellent alternative.  During the height of the pandemic, on-site seminars were discouraged.  People received their trainings online.   In recent months, employers have started to allow employees to attend webinars from their offices.  This way, management can check whether the employees are attending the cyber sessions or not. Through this alternative arrangement, resources are not wasted.

The Supreme Court of the Philippines now allows remote trainings.  It probably realized the facility and savings of giving trainings to its nationwide employees online.  There are occasions when the Highest Court mandates select employees to attend certain webinars while in in their offices and within close supervision of their respective judges.

The local governments should follow suit.  You can imagine the amount of public funds that could be saved by local governments if trainings and seminars were attended online.

At present, any councilor or board member or any department head could attend as many on-site seminars for as long as: 1) there is budget for it; and 2) the head of the government agency orders it.  The foregoing requirements alone should not just be the considerations for permitting these officials to be in attendance.  The various Department local government units should provide stricter guidelines so that these so-called trips won’t be considered as mere “junkets.”

Co-incidentally, someone credible messaged me that a department head of a local government unit brought her mother, her sister and brother-in-law, to a planning seminar outside the province at government’s expense. The justification?  The relatives are consultants of the present dispensation.  I was also informed that the same department head has been going to several “official trips” and has been checking-in in posh hotels like Waterfront since her appointment in July this year.

Situations such as above, if true, should be curbed by the Department of Interior and Local Government.  Now more than ever, we need these regulations on seminars, planning sessions and whatever trips because of the present extraordinary economic hardship of the Filipinos.  What with almost P75.00 per liter of diesel and the present stagflation, who needs a spendthrift as a government official?  Multiply individual expenses with the number of officials who will be “going somewhere to attend something” and we come up with a staggering amount!

I see on Facebook some public officials who keep attending the same annual out-of-town seminars.  If we presume that our public officials are intelligent, then they need not attend seminars of the same content yearly.

I am not advocating for the total prohibition of government funded local trips or onsite seminars.  I am only batting for the following guidelines to avoid abuse of funds:  1) limitation of these so-called trips to probably once, twice a year, or at most, thrice a year; 2)  a showing that the seminar/trip  is directly related to the capacity-building plan submitted to the Human Relations and Management Office; 3) submission of intended commitments after the completion of the trip/seminar; and 4) No trip/seminar should be authorized anew unless there is submission of proof that the declared commitments in the previous trips have been fulfilled.

Let us demand that our government officials scrimp on public funds which are taxpayers’ money.   DILG and COA, please be our valiant watchdogs.

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