The penchant to create departments and agencies under the Executive branch of the government is a storied chapter in Philippine governance. Under the American colonial rule, agencies were named and patterned after existing US subdivisions.
For instance, the agriculture department was lumped up with the natural resources sector, resulting in the creation of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR).
Later, given the Philippines is an agricultural economy, the farm and land sectors (before the advent of ‘agrarian reform’) was given its own Department of Agriculture (DA).
This pattern of changing and transferring specific concerns from one department to another has, in itself, an interesting historical subject for decades. But the consequential impact of this practice has always resulted in the bloating of the bureaucracy.
During the Commonwealth period, there was the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) which, over time, would be shortened to just BI given that deporting unwanted foreigners is only a specific function of that agency.
Today’s Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) started as Department of War and Public Works (DPWH), then it evolved into Department of Public Works and Communication (DPWC) and Department of Public Works, Transportation, and Communication (DPWTC).
In the Marcos era, changes in names of agencies were evident and often with hidden meanings. For instance, the Fishery Industry Resources Management (FIRM) Program had a hidden definition, FIRM being ‘Ferdinand Imelda Romualdez Marcos!’
Even the innocent PROFEM, which stands for Program for Forest Ecosystem Management, actually stood for ‘Profile of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos’ with its logo, a tree with a crown, hiding the seven half-faces of Marcos. Remember that ‘7’ was the dictator’s favourite number!
(Have you ever tried visiting your Philippine map and observe that the provinces in the north form the bust of the former dictator?)
An important Marcos-era creation was the Department of Human Settlements (DHS), which banned the eleven (11) basic needs of man, including food, shelter, and power, to name a few. The department was known for its BLISS (Bagong Lipunan Integrated Sites and Servies), which built tenement to house the hoi polloi, the poor.
Recently, under the Duterte leadership, technocrats proposed the creation of the Department of Settlements (DOS) to replace the National Housing Authority and integrating the functions of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and related offices dealing in the funding, planning, and approval of housing undertakings.
But this is just of many the Palace diehards have in mind. As an archipelago surrounded by oceans, rivers, and other waterways, there is a push to create the Department of Fisheries (DOF). For so long, the fishery industry has played second fiddle in the government’s agriculture agenda, which is focused more on staple food production and irrigation.
An interesting suggestion is the establishment of the Department of Overseas Workers (DOW) to cater to the ten or eleven million Filipinos deployed abroad, which is far larger than the coverage of the many agencies currently existing. If enacted, offices like the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will be dissolved to constitute the new department.
Another eye-raising suggestion, a source of global concern, to address water. In line with this, there are sectors pushing for the creation of a Department of Water. Predictably, agencies like National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB), the Local Waterworks Utilities Administration (LWUA), and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) will likely be absorbed by it.
Elsewhere, there are individuals wanting their collective voices heard with the establishment of the Department of Sports (DOS), a function that’s assumed in great amount by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) after sports and athletics were removed from the then Department of Education, Culture, and Sports (DECS).
In the banking sector, innovations in creating banks addressing specific targets have also been considered. During the Arroyo administration, Local Waterworks Utilities Administration (LWUA) chair Prospero Pichay Jr. pushed for the creation of a WE Bank.
WE stood for water and energy.
While the intent was laudable given the need to address the issues of power shortage and water deficiency, the Ombudsman found flaws in the transaction after it found out the 2009 takeover of Express Savings Bank Inc. (ESBI), the supposed future WE Bank, was anomalous.
As a result, a case was filed in 2015 against former officials of LWUA, executives of WELLEX Group Inc. (WGI), the owner of the bank, and Forum Pacific Inc. because the takeover fee involved was PhP80 million, far bigger than the PhP50 million threshold in a plunder case.
Under the Duterte leadership, given the President’s overwhelming support for Filipinos employed abroad, the clamor to create an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Bank was signature advocacy among those who have loved ones and relatives working in global destinations.
Whether the bank will materialize is something t state has not really pushed forward.
