Bureaucrats, politicians and Covid-19

By Artchil B. Fernandez

Philippines ranks last in the Nikkei Covid-19 Recovery pandemic performance index among the 121 countries evaluated. The country is also 53^rd among the 53 countries “as a bad place to be in during the pandemic” according to Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Resilience Ranking. The Nikkei index indicates that the Philippines is among the last countries to recover from the global pandemic while the Bloomberg ranking reveals the country is the worst place to be during the plague.

The assessment by reputable international organizations on the pandemic performance of the Philippines amid the most serious health crisis to hit the world in a hundred years shows that the Duterte administration is badly handling the pandemic and its management of the deadly virus is poor. As of this writing, 2,836,915 Filipinos were infected by SARS-CoV-2 and of these number 50,449 have died from Covid-19.

To reduce Covid-19 infections and deaths among Filipinos the government must considerably improve its pandemic management. Those who are in-charge in handling the pandemic, particularly the political leaders and the technocrats must get their act together. What should have been the appropriate relationship between politicians and bureaucrats in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic?

To improve the government’s handling of the pandemic, the Duterte administration must depart from its current way of dealing with a health crisis. The first act it must take is to give the pandemic management to experts. Bureaucrats who are specialists on the problem should be in the driver’s seat and if there is lack of personnel recruit experts to join the government task force. The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) must be overhauled, replacing the military in key positions with experts i.e. epidemiologists, virologists, microbiologists, medical doctors, sociologists, economists, psychologists, social workers and other specialists.

A new IATF composed of experts should be allowed to craft policies free from political interference. Its decisions and recommendations must be publicly known. To ensure transparency, media and civil society must be present in its deliberations as observers. Politicians, those in the executive department, particularly the chief executive are the ones who should implement or take action on the recommendations of the new IATF.

The reciprocal relations of bureaucrats and politicians should be: the experts study the situation, design a course of action and politicians execute them. To ensure that politicians are held accountable for their decision, the analysis of situation and recommended action of the new IATF must be made public. High public awareness will serve as pressure to the politicians to make an informed and enlightened course of action.

The media and civil society play a vital role in monitoring and metering the actions taken by political leaders. With elections near, the best form of sanction is to bring the wrong decisions of politicians into the ballot.

Giving of “ayuda” or government financial/material aid is another area where the relationship between bureaucrats and politicians needs to be smoothened. Politicians deliberate, decide, and make the funds available for the aid. The implementation should be left in the hands of the bureaucrats. Identification of beneficiaries and the distribution of aid should be the work of bureaucrats and civil servants. Interference of the politicians in the identification and distribution of government aid is a perennial problem under a neo-patrimonial state like the Philippines and this should be minimized if not eliminated.

Sanctions should be given not only to politicians but also to bureaucrats and civil servants who take advantage or use government aid to advance personal or political agendas. This can come in form of suspension, loss of financial emolument or outright banning from holding public office or post in the bureaucracy.

In terms of monitoring and metering, the media, church groups, NGOs, and even neighborhood associations can act as watchdogs in the implementation of government aid. An active society can act as a deterrent from the capture of government aid by vested interests.

Vaccination is an important component of pandemic management. Both bureaucrats and politicians must synchronize their acts. Political leaders should mobilize resources and place them into the hands of bureaucrats.  In the execution of the vaccination campaign bureaucrats should take the lead while politicians take a backseat and in supporting role.

Aside from civil society, the church, business groups and the private sector should be mobilized in the vaccination effort not only to encourage public participation but in the crucial role of monitoring and metering. These groups can ensure that vaccination is not turned into a political tool especially by politicians who are thinking of the coming election.

Lastly, the best way for the politicians to energize the bureaucracy is to raise the salary of frontliners, give them their benefits and provide them all the support they need. Many health workers due to inadequate incentives chose to exit, some used voice while very few opted for loyalty. Neglect of the plight of those in the bureaucracy leading the fight against the pandemic is the worst disincentive to them.

To effectively deal with the pandemic, politicians and bureaucrats should complement each other. Bureaucrats have expertise while politicians have authority. Proper utilization of expertise and appropriate exercise of authority is one way to improve the pandemic management of the country.