Good morning Sirs and Mesdames!

I am INSP KEVIN G BANAWAG. I graduated with Bachelor of Science in Public Safety at the
Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) and proudly belonging to the PNPA SANSIKLAB
Class 2019. After our graduation on March 22, 2019 presided by no less than the President of the
Republic of the Philippines, we were assigned at the BFP National Headquarters for the Officer’s
Orientation Course and processing of documents. After few months, some of us were already
assigned at the different regional offices in the country. As for me, I was given the opportunity to
be the Aide-de-camp Concurrent Head Executive Assistant of the former Regional Director of
BFP Regional Office 1, Ret. General Jorge Fariñas. After which, I was designated as the Acting
Municipal Fire Marshal of San Fabian, Pangasinan, until present. Currently, I am taking my
Masters in Development Administration major in Law Enforcement Administration at Don
Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Open University System in La Union.
Today, I will be discussing about bureaucracy and its existence within the realm of the
Bureau of Fire Protection.
I know it sounds familiar, but do you really know its concept? Then we begin to unravel.
Etymologically speaking, bureaucracy, as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, was
borrowed from the French bureaucratie, which itself was formed by
combining bureau (“desk”) and -cratie (a suffix denoting a kind of government).  

In some references, they could trace bureaucracy as nearly as old as civilization itself. 
In a political system, bureaucracy is a system of administration based upon
organization into bureaus, division of labor, hierarchy of authority; designed to dispose of a
large body of work in a routine manner.
As we go further, we will know more of bureaucracy and why it is stereotyped mostly
as unnecessary processes that even make the whole process more complex and complicated
most especially in government transactions.
The Philippine government is bureaucratic in nature and it is vulnerable to certain factors
such as political adherence, Filipino culture such as those we commonly hear like “pakikisama”,
“utang na loob”, “hiya”, and other traditional manifestations. It is not to say that it is in totality
ineffective in complying with its mandates but it needs a careful evaluation on how the people in
the organization perform their duties and functions in order that public administration will run
smoothly.
In so far as most experiences would tell, there are really instances that the way our
government workers deal with their customers are questioned because of the so-called
bureaucratic practices especially in terms of efficiency. Say for instance, a single transaction
would take hours or even days to be addressed. As such the government pursued the imposition
of the Citizen's Charter, a commitment of government workers towards the clientele for better
services. In relation to this, the Anti-Red Tape Act provided a time frame for transactions in
specific offices within the LGU that a client will undergo until the client will be reaching the fire
station where the client will be paying the respective fire code fees. But the question will always
pose on the extent of the adherence of public servants of such process and at the same time, the
knowledge of the people of the existence of such processes in the Citizen’s Charter.
Another thing also is duplication and overlapping of functions in personnel and agencies
are noted, resulting in more inefficiency and waste of resources. Inadequate coordination
between and among agencies in government cost both lives and resources. The latest example of
this would be the event in Mamasapano, Maguindanao wherein 44 PNP Special Forces
operatives were killed in an encounter with members of the rebel group MILF all because of the
lack of coordination between and among leaders in the PNP and the AFP. Relatively, the
proposal on devolving the Bureau of Fire Protection in the Local Government Units and the
proposal to transfer the Bureau of Fire Protection in the DRR is of course an absurd
manifestation in matter of duplication and overlapping of functions in personnel and agencies
and waste of resources because the bureau per se is operating with distinct functions and
mandates provided by law.
The next thing is that problems in personnel administration are probably a lifetime
concern of the bureaucracy. Even with the ongoing government-wide rationalization plan,
reports of overstaffed yet undermanned agencies are all too common, especially in areas where
political patronage is high. As of now, this is one of the most prevalent problem of the Bureau of
Fire Protection and even other agencies because of the lack of manpower. The men and women
of the Bureau of Fire Protection is putting high hopes that the BFP Modernization Bill would
really be enacted into law because this will not just pave way for developments and opportunities
but will even mark as the bureau’s transcendence.

To address some sorts of those stereotyped bureaucracy or as many would refer as

“unnecessary bureaucracy”, the government created laws like the Republic Act 11032 or the
Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 is an act that
aims to streamline the current systems and procedures of government services. It is the landmark
law of the Duterte administration that addresses priority number 3 of its 0+10 Point Socio-
economic Agenda. This particular agenda pertains to improving the competitiveness of and ease
of doing business in the Philippines. Signed into law on 28 May 2018, the law effectively
amends Republic Act 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.
The strengthened version of the law is poised to facilitate prompt actions or resolution of
all government transactions with efficiency. It applies to all government offices and agencies in
the Executive Department including local government units (LGUs), government-owned or
-controlled corporations, and other government instrumentalities, located in the Philippines or
abroad, that provide services covering business-related and non-business transactions as defined
in the IRR.
 In short, this law is created to streamline the process or to deter the what to previously
referred as “unnecessary bureaucracy” and instead employ faster or simpler working methods for
a more efficient and convenient transaction for the benefit of the common good.
Now, even how much we would whine with the demands of our work, we should always
remember the precept that public office is a public trust. We all are public servants, that is why
we should act as one. Finally, to end my speech, I would like to leave you a quote by Saint
Augustine which goes, “RIGHT is RIGHT even if no one is doing it; WRONG is WRONG even
if everyone is doing it”.

Thank you and God bless!