Bill drafted for the office of Rep. Earlpe John M. Amante 1403

Introduction

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or Drones in the Philippines is still on its embryonic stage.  Only a handful of hobbyists are in to this type of leisure.  In the United States of America, they are estimated to be around 5,000 active users.

With the advent of cheaper models and an expanding user base, the figure is projected to be quadrupled by 2020.  Currently, the control of UAV is even available in i-phones and android devices for download.

There is even a delivery of goods and services in the US that uses this method.  The danger for the republic however starts to creep in when an industry grade UAV are weaponized.  By attaching an explosive device to an UAV (i.e  a simple dynamite, a grenade), the drone becomes a weapon’s grade missile.  You now have a smart bomb that could accurately target a person or an infrastructure.

Malacanang, Congress, or even the President could be an easy target if you know where they will be in a given time.

It is because of this possibility that the sale and use of UAV or drones should be regulated in the Philippines.  Sim cards could be purchased anonymously where tracing the owner of a particular number is close to impossible, such shouldn’t be the case with the use and acquisition of UAV or drones.

Even without weaponizing UAV, they by themselves could still cause harm by colliding with an airplane landing or taking off.  UAV or drones are accidents waiting to happen.

AN ACT

REGULATING THE SALE AND USE OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES/DRONES

IN THE PHILIPPINES

            SECTION 1. Title. – This act shall be known as the “Regulation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/Drones in the Philippines”.

            SECTION 2.  Declaration of Policy. – A decade from now, use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will have an exponential usage in the delivery of parcel business.  In the United States of America, it is projected that by the year 2020, a conservative estimate of 40, 000 UAV or drones will be flying simultaneously to deliver goods and services.  Presently, there is no regulating body that monitors the use of UAV in the country.

            SECTION 3. Definitions. – As used in this act, the following terms shall mean:

            (a)  Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) – flying or hovering aircrafts that is in the air for the purpose of delivery of service or goods.

            (b)  Drones – another term to describe unmanned aerial vehicles.

           SECTION 4.  Regulatory power.  All matters related to the retirement issues and cases will be under the Department of Trade and Communications.

             SECTION 5.  Penalty.  Individuals or corporations who utilizes the use of this technology without securing permit from DOTC will be sanctioned with a fine of  of not less than One Million Pesos (P1,000,000) but not more than Three Million Pesos (P3,000,000).

            Corporate officers such as the President, Vice-President, Corporate Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager shall be punished by prison mayor and its medium and maximum periods and a fine not less than One Million Pesos (P1,000,000) but not exceeding Two Million Pesos (P2,000,000).

       SECTION 6.  Repealing clause.  All laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, rules and regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

               SECTION 7.  Separability clause.  If any provision of this act is held invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected hereby shall remain valid and subsisting.

             SECTION 8.  Effectivity.  This act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two (2) national newspaper of general circulation.

Bill drafted for the office of Rep. Earlpe John M. Amante 1402

AN ACT REGULATING BITCOIN AND OTHER FINANCIAL DERIVATIVES CIRCULATING IN THE INTERNET

SECTION 1. Title. – This act shall be known as the “Internet Currency Regulation”.

         SECTION 2.  Declaration of Policy. – The Internet is producing a multivariate of technological production that is still unregulated in the republic.  More often than not, selling and buying of services is done through the use of bitcoin or other  financial derivatives.  To ensure economic protection and stability, the State will have to regulate the Internet buying and selling that is transpiring in the Philippine area of responsibility.

          SECTION 3. Definitions. – As used in this act, the following terms shall mean:

           (a)  Bitcoin – this refers to the currency that is being use right now in the Internet.

             (b)  Other Financial Derivative – this refers to other currency that is being used in the Internet.

              SECTION 4.  Regulatory power.  All matters related to Internet financial transactions will be under the Department of Finance.

          SECTION 5.  Penalty.  Companies and individuals operating without conforming to the rules and regulations set by the Department of Finance will be fined Two Million Pesos (P2,000,000) but not exceeding Five Million Pesos (P5,000,000).

Corporate officers such as the President, Vice-President, Corporate Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager shall be punished by prison mayor and its medium and maximum periods and a fine not less than One Million Pesos (P1,000,000) but not exceeding Two Million Pesos (P2,000,000).

            SECTION 6.  Repealing clause.  All laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, rules and regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

                SECTION 7.  Separability clause.  If any provision of this act is held invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected hereby shall remain valid and subsisting.

               SECTION 8.  Effectivity.  This act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two (2) national newspaper of general circulation.

Bill drafted for the office of Rep. Earlpe John M. Amante 1401

AN ACT

ENSURING ALL PRIVATE SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITIES TO HAVE A RETIREMENT PLAN AND BENEFITS FOR ALL OF ITS EMPLOYEES

         SECTION 1. Title. – This act shall be known as the “Retirement Plan for Private School and Universities”.

       SECTION 2.  Declaration of Policy. – Though the Labor Code already has a policy regarding retirements, some schools and universities skirts around the Labor Code to underpay prospective retirees which is beneath the industry practice and dignity of the employees.

          SECTION 3. Definitions. – As used in this act, the following terms shall mean:

         (a)  Employee/Staff/Faculty – this refers to the people responsible for the delivery of services and instruction.

      (b)  Monthly income – this refers to the gross monthly income earned by the employee for the delivery of service and instruction.

     (c)  Retirement Pay – this refers to the pay or emolument received by the employee/staff/faculty after rendering 10 years of service or more.

          SECTION 4.  Regulatory power.  All matters related to the retirement issues and cases will be under the Department of Labor and Employment.

      SECTION 5.  Penalty.  Schools and Universities operating without a viable retirement plan shall be subjected to a fine of not less than One Million Pesos (P1,000,000) but not more than Three Million Pesos (P3,000,000).

            Academic officers and corporate officers such as the President, Vice-President, Corporate Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager shall be punished by prison mayor and its medium and maximum periods and a fine not less than One Million Pesos (P1,000,000) but not exceeding Two Million Pesos (P2,000,000).

     SECTION 6.  Repealing clause.  All laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, rules and regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

           SECTION 7.  Separability clause.  If any provision of this act is held invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected hereby shall remain valid and subsisting.

        SECTION 8.  Effectivity.  This act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two (2) national newspaper of general circulation.

Thoughts on Efficiency

Thoughts on Efficiency

One is efficient when one is able to do what is required of him.  To consistently do what is required calls for dedication.  To be dedicated, motivation is required, but where does one get the motivation.  From the Latin word “movere” where the loose translation is “to move”- an individual must find his own internal reasons to do things and make it happen.

People could be efficient for a factor of reasons.  It could be based on intrinsic motivations or extrinsic motivations.  Like clockwork, these motivations propel an individual to do better, to be efficient and exceed expectations.

An efficient system produces an output with the least amount of input.  Businessmen have corrupted this concept by always insisting on cost-cutting.  Instead of focusing on activities that increases the revenues, they focus on cost-cutting, hence the agonizing resistance of people chance, especially if the aim is to drive down the cost of producing a service or a good.  

In the academe, the nature of the business is delivery of instruction which is better characterized by a production of service.  Simply put, one is efficient (or the university) when there is a large volume of graduated students every semester.  The more students who graduated, the more efficient is the university.

Quality here is still not factored into the equation.  There are many working definitions of quality 1) conformance to requirements 2)fitness for use and/or 3)that which exceeds expectations.  For an organization/university to claim quality, such must at least meet all the enumerated working definitions.

The fusion of quality and efficiency is inevitable – one cannot have one without the other.  One cannot claim efficiency without exceeding expectations.

Thoughts on Human Resource Management

Thoughts on Human Resource Management

People really do not want to be managed.  Unconsciously, they resent management because you cannot really manage people, what you can do is to lead people.  You can manage time, property, a system, a procedure and even a culture or a behavior – but people?  An attempt to manage people is difficult task, but leading people is as easy as a snap.

Leading and managing people are diametrically opposed concepts, I for one, subscribes to leading people.  Now, there are many types of leadership – one could adopt the autocratic type of leadership, a democratic type of leadership or even a laissez-faire type of leadership.  Some would even ask about a principle type of leadership, a servant type of leadership, a transactional type of leadership or even a visionary type of leadership.

Personally, I subscribe to all of the enumerated type of leadership.  The usage depends on the situation and the type of people one is currently dealing with and if there is one thing that I learned about leadership, nothing and no one is permanent, in fact, permanence or the appearance of permanence is an illusion that could easily be challenge by a single person, event or even a place.

Problems in Human Resource Management could easily be solved by simple execution of whatever solution formulated and decided.  My philosophy here is simple, execution and making things happen.

In my experience, whatever the problem is, there is already an easy solution.  The difficulty lies in the execution of the solution.  Most people delay executing solutions in the hope that things might change.  Guess what?  Problems not acted do not change, in fact, if there is a change on the horizon; it is usually for the worse.

Making things happen means acting of the plans and scheme formulated.  Plans are useless without actions.  Men are defined by their actions and not by their plans.  Actions are far more important than plans.  Plans are inputs while actions are outputs.  In Human Resource Management, actions are more important than inputs.

Academicians sometimes have a way of complicating things, I for one subscribes to keeping it short and simple.  Besides, that which you comprehend, you could simplify.  If you cannot simplify a concept or an idea means that you really haven’t understood the essence of such.

Thoughts on Leadership

Thoughts on Leadership

1.  Influence

2.  Connections

3.  Adjustment

4.  Position

5.  Delivery of service

6.  The person who does more – responsibility

In a country where so many wants to be president, leadership is always a non-issue.  Majority of the candidates have not even displayed a single iota of leadership in their fabricated career.  Come to think of it, some do not even have a career to speak of.  Most of them just ride on the name recall of their surname, literally acquiring votes on the accomplishment of their famous relative.

Manny Pacquiao is one of the greatest boxers of all time and by some stretch the fellow was elected as a representative in Mindanao.  It was a stretch because other than good will and good intention, the fellow has no academic qualification to speak of, no governance or legislative experience, and in his illustrious career – no preparation for the taxing work of a legislator.  Up to this day, I question the wisdom of his election.  His legislative district would have been better served by someone else more qualified for the work.

The twist now (in the coming 2013 midterm elections), even his wife is running for an elective position.  Just what is the qualification of his wife?  Other than giving Mr. Pacquiao his biological children, she is a virtual nobody.  She must be beautiful once, but beauty is fleeting, just what are her qualifications?  Whatever it is, it is nowhere near the qualifications of other candidates who are really qualified for the position.

Leadership is not about popularity.  Mr. Pacquiao and his wife might be popular, they might be able to buy their elective position but they will never get the esteem and respect that they are after in the first place.  Sooner or later, leadership in its essence will be called to fore and nemo dat quod habet (you cannot give what you don’t have).  They will have no tangible positions, and all of their opinions are just a byproduct of regurgitated ideas planted by their own limited circle of friends and advisers.  A puppet would be the appropriate notion here.

Leadership is influence.  In the long run, leadership is measured by the amount of influence expended to shape a person, a group of people or an event.  Was the position taken in consonance with the policy and philosophy of the leader?  There are no absolute in leadership, in the realm of the ideal, one could extol the virtue of no compromise but in the realm of reality, leadership is about making compromises, of consensus making and of building allegiances.

Leadership is about connections.  A good or a working leadership is based on the relationship that a person has accumulated over the years.  Just as it takes years to produce a general, a leader takes years of incubation before one could claim such a title.  More than anything else, there is no leadership if there is no relationship or connections with people.  In the end, leadership is about people and how one relates with these galaxies of people.

Leadership is about adjustment.  Just as there are no absolutes in leadership, adjustment or the ability to adjust is the name of the game for a potential leader.  John Maxwell encapsulates my thoughts on adjustment when he said that “the pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the leader adjusts the sail”.  A leader must always be able to adjust and adapt.  Thousands of years ago, the dinosaurs ruled planet earth, but now dinosaurs (and their remains) are found in the museum, and why are they extinct?  Because of their inability to adapt and adjust to the changing earth and its environment.

Leadership is position.  I am a little bit ambivalent about position, but there is no leadership if there is no position.  No change is ever possible if there is no position in a particular issue or a case.  Leadership must take a solid position in an issue and defend such a position even at the expense of losing hierarchical position and followers.  When the declaration of emancipation was signed by Abraham Lincoln, he lost a lot of followers and supporters, but signing the writ was the right thing to do.  And now, historically, President Lincoln was validated by the tide of history and universally considered as one of the greatest American president.

Leadership is about the delivery of service.  Before one could assume the exalted position of leadership, one must first assume the position or a role of a follower.  No leadership was ever considered great without first assuming the role of discipleship.  No one is born into a general position; it takes years of training, practice and seasoning before one could rightfully claim the position of generalship.  Before one could ever claim the position of a teacher, one must first assume the role of a student.  Seniority or seasoning must be considered into the equation especially if one is talking about leadership.  The delivery of service is one tangible measurement where one could accurately claim the mantle of leadership.  The value of a weapon is judged when such is already battle-tested, a vehicle is judged when such is road-tested, and an individual must have the experience first before he could assume the position of leadership. 

The person who does more, the person who bears more responsibility is the leader.  While one could delegate the work, the leader never delegates nor evades responsibility.  Great basketball coaches let their players get the credit for every game that they won but they always assume the responsibility for lost games.  Assuming responsibility means one still do something about the current situation and such means that one bears the burden of carrying the group to the next level of performance.  There are front liners and there are leaders.  Assuming responsibility, such is the hallmark of a true leader.

People are led, they are not managed.  In fact, people tend to get offended when they have inkling that they are being managed.  You manage time, properties, or even finances but never people.  People give their best when they are led.  When there is proper leadership and motivation, people would be willing to do anything and give everything.  Personally, I believe that there is no such thing as people management, such do not exist.  But what we do have is people leadership.

When there is a real people leadership, there is progress, there is creativity, there is innovation and there are tangible accomplishments.  Sadly, the Philippines is still denied this experience.  What we do have is a shameful establishment of political dynasty.  The 1987 Constitution prohibits this as such is expressly stated but the quality of politicians prevents such from ever becoming a reality.  It is not unheard of where in a certain province, almost all the elected officials are related to one another.  From a simple municipal mayor to the senate and to the palace, this shameful practice must stop.  The country deserves better, the people deserves better, we deserve better.

One of the curses of Philippines is that we were never blessed by nobility.  These inter related politicians just don’t know the meaning and essence of such a word.  What they have is political opportunism where “striking while the iron is hot” is the main dictum.

The story of President Noynoy Aquino endorsing his cousin for senator, Vice President Jojo Binay endorsing his own daughter for senator, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile endorsing his own son for senator, will just keep on happening again and again with the names just changing.

Thoughts on Management

Thoughts on Management

1.  Personal experience

2.  Observation on the practice of management on others

3.  Real management

4.  Ideal management

5.  Teaching philosophy

Management to me refers to the professional handling, caring and nurturing of a particular enterprise or endeavor.  Handling a department peopled with different and contrasting background is a difficult and a complex task.  To have such a privilege, one must be mature intellectually and psychologically.  Departmental politics will inevitably come to fore and one must be above such (ideally).  If one is pushed into such a position unprepared or not yet ready, failure for the organization and maladjustment for the individual is the inevitable outcome.

In the business world, in the sporting world as well as in the academic world, tales have been told where success was achieved because everything was in its proper place and proper time and everything and everyone was doing their assigned role and parts.  Everyone was exceeding expectations; hence excellence was the inevitable outcome.  With great management, great results are to be expected.  When people know their assigned role, when there is a clear definition of expectations, success is destined to happen.

More than anything else, the main task of management is to make its people happy, because from what I observed, the happiest people are the most productive people.  The trick and the challenge now is how to help find and define happiness according to varying expectations and contrasting definitions.  Because some people are content with under achievement.

Battling underachievement however is easy, just provide the exact motivation needed and underachievement is nipped in the bud.  Motivation could vary from sex, money, prestige, power or just a simple recognition and acknowledgement.  Interplay of usage of these motivational cards will pull and push the enterprise and endeavor to success at any given time.

Currently, Google pays the highest in terms of compensation for all employees.  People all over the world want to work for Google because of their generous compensation package where one is not just an employee but a stakeholder and a shareholder as well.  There is a low turnover of employees and why is that?  Because there is lesser restrictions and creativity and innovation is considered as a premium possession.  People are happy and eager to work for Google hence these fortunate are also inevitably the most productive employee.  A simple trick is easy to gauge the productivity of an enterprise.  If there is a tangible high morale, if the people around the enterprise are enjoying themselves, then success and productivity is just around the corner.

Poor management results in low morale for its employees.  When popularity becomes the defining factor instead of doing things right then failure of enterprise is bound to happen sooner or later.

I really do not believe in micro-management, my personal experience points me to the philosophy of finding the talent and letting it prove itself.  Delegation of work but never the delegation of responsibility, besides you really cannot delegate responsibility.

Since I am an academic, there really must be a bedrock of teaching style or teaching philosophy.  I subscribe to the Latin phrase of “monere et delectere”.  The literal translation is “to illuminate and to delight”.  For a decade now, illuminating and delighting students have been my main purpose and aim in instruction.  I believe that students must enjoy the instruction process itself, because excellence is never attained it they are unable to enjoy the process of acquiring knowledge.