Systems better than people

There are times when relying on systems is better than relying on people. In many aspects of governance, this is no exaggeration.

The government’s slogans are indeed helpful: “Ikaw ang boss ko”; “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”; “Tuwid na daan.”

They typify our march toward the good governance that has significantly improved our country’s image in the eyes of rating agencies; and yes, the world.

Our government has to get good people in the top positions of responsibility and power. To a large extent, it has succeeded.

More important than this is installing effective management systems. Good systems are both self-monitoring and self-correcting. Even if people do not catch performance deviations, the systems will. So when good people leave, the systems will be there to help ensure good agriculture governance.

Agriculture governance

At the Department of Agriculture (DA), Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has taken admirable steps in choosing people of high integrity.

Recently, two discredited bureau directors were replaced by honest officials.

However, these officials are confronted by an alleged culture of corruption. It will take a Herculean effort to correct this. Thankfully, an effective management system can help them.

I have seen some systems that have produced remarkable results. One system reduced business permit processing time from one month to 15 minutes. It was rated as the best in the country in terms of improved government efficiency. This was because a computerized and corruption-free system was put in place.

Another management system reduced the smuggling rate from 40 percent to less than 1 percent. Unfortunately, the system was dismantled because too many big smugglers were getting caught. This can be restored by political will.

Unfortunately, some people at the lower levels of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) are mounting a strong resistance. An example is that up to today, BoC refuses to transmit an important document called the Inward Foreign Manifest to DA for check and balance purposes.

Planning

When I was doing my doctorate in business administration and technology transfer, my professor Peter Drucker said: “While it is important to do things right, it is more important to do the right things.”

Having a plan that identifies the right things to do is imperative.

With severe global competition, scarce resources and an Asean zero-tariff regime only three years from now, we must have a system of well-crafted roadmaps prepared by professional experts in each critical agricultural subsector.

The roadmaps we envision are those that use globally excellent criteria, not lengthy position papers and PowerPoint presentations that lack the necessary data to support their recommendations.

The last time such road maps for most subsectors were prepared was in 2002.

Implementation

What good is a road map if implementation is poor?

Even after democracy was restored in 1986, many Philippine companies could not export. This was because foreign buyers did not have the assurance that Philippine products could be produced with high quality and reliable consistency. Sounds like many government services today!

I was with the DTI team that introduced ISO 9000, a management system required of exporters by their customers abroad. After this system was implemented, exports increased significantly. When ISO 9000 was implemented in selected government agencies, services from these agencies likewise improved.

A success story is the ISO 9000 implementation at DA’s Bureau of Agricultural Research, which has since demonstrated tremendous improvement. Many other DA bureaus have no such system.

There is no need for good people to carefully watch how each phase of work is done.

An ISO 9000 system catches performance deviations, and promotes improved consistent implementation.

Systems

As our post-impeachment period moves toward a new paradigm of honesty, transparency and accountability, we should also add effectiveness and efficiency. This should be done not only with people, but more importantly, with systems.

DA must do this immediately. This is not only to minimize corruption, but also to reduce the slow and failed follow-up implementation of important DA directives to achieve agricultural development.

(The author is chairman of Agriwatch and former undersecretary for agriculture, and trade and industry. For inquiries and suggestions, e-mail [email protected] or telefax (02) 85221.)