Lacson eyes more capacity-building efforts for Filipinos

MANILA – Partido Reporma standard-bearer Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said that the government could better help Filipinos by boosting their capacity-building instead of passing regulations that lead to stagnation.

The presidential aspirant made this pronouncement in front of 2,600 supporters at a school in Nawak, Davao De Oro which he visited along with his running mate, Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, over the weekend.

In a news release, Lacson said the government should also be a better partner with the private sector instead of treating companies as competitors.

“Alam niyo ang problema kasi ang intervention ng ating national government nasa regulation, overregulated na. Ang kailangang intervention ‘yung positive (You know, intervention is the problem of our national government, in regulation, it’s overregulated now. The intervention we need is positive),” he added.

For instance, the lawmaker said most local government units (LGUs) had no capacity in terms of long-term community planning or well-trained planning officers for their towns or cities.

This is where the national government could intervene by sending LGU officers to the Local Government Academy or the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) where they could study how to craft and implement plans properly for long-term progress, Lacson added.

Lacson already did this in a limited scope as the rehabilitation czar for the Aquino administration in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, which swept through Tacloban City and other parts of the Visayas in November 2013.

Through a USD10 million (around PHP513.6 million) study grant by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the government trained 161 community planners with the DAP, which in turn benefited 171 LGUs in their post-Yolanda rehabilitation and recovery measures.

“Ang tawag doon capacity building. Ika-capacitate natin ‘yung mga munisipyong medyo kulang, ibig sabihin, incapacitated – tulungan (That’s what’s called capacity building. Let’s capacitate the municipalities that are rather lacking, meaning incapacitated – let’s help them),” the former national police chief added. (PR)