OPINIONS / COLUMNS (October 6– October 12, 2008) ka iking reports Ike Señeres The APEC cooperation model in a local setting WHILE IT is a logical presumption that municipal engineers and environmental officers from the local jurisdictions around a watershed should really be meeting and coordinating with each other, this is not happening now for all intents and purposes. Sadly, there seems to be no appreciation of the fact that all of them are responsible for one and the same watershed, assuming that they have a clear understanding of what a watershed is, in the first place. For all intents and purposes, the bodies of water that is composed of the Pagsanjan Falls, the Pagsanjan River, the Cavinti River and its tributaries form one watershed, based on the technical definition that all the water that falls in the general area is collected into the same ground, further seeping down into the same aquifers under these grounds. As we see it now, the surface waters in these areas are already visually polluted, but that is just one side of the story, because the waters that we do not visually see under these grounds, down below in the aquifers are also presumably polluted. As proof of that, the waters around the Pagsanjan Falls are already known to stink, even if it still attracts the tourists who go there to shoot the rapids. Without an active forum that would serve as a venue for the local communities to reach agreements as to how to clean up this watershed, we could not expect these waters to become clean in our lifetime. Thanks to the forthcoming economic cooperation forum in Laguna, we see hope that this clean up will happen. The first step is to convince the local mayors to send their municipal engineers and environmental officers to attend the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) of the said forum. Once the rounds of TWG meetings are started, it would be easy to move on to the next two levels. *** Organizing the Laguna Economic Cooperation Forum The proposed economic cooperation forum that I wrote about in the previous issue is being organized as a joint effort between the La Salle Institute for Governance (LSIG), the La Sallian Institute for the Environment (LIFE) and “IN BUSINESS”, my forthcoming TV show at Flip Channel. Without much publicity, LIFE has done a lot of ground work among the 24 local communities in the Laguna area where the forum will be formed, under the leadership of Engineer Ben Eusebio. LIFE is an independent institute within the La Salle system, formed by the Christian Brothers who are deeply involved in the restoration and the preservation of the environment. Meeting Ben is actually like a sentimental reunion for me, since he was one of the foreign consultants brought home by the Transfer of Knowledge thru Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN), a program of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) that I managed when I was still with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Ben is now a Balikbayan scientist that is back for good, with the clear intention of helping his mother country. To me, he is like a national treasure that we have re-acquired, having served in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US government for 30 years. We are lucky to have him back, and there is no one better qualified to lead this initiative than him. Joining us in the team is Dr. Francisco Magno, Executive Director of LSIG, and a well known political scientist. Also with us is Professor Louie Montemar of LSIG, another well known political scientist and my active partner in a political think tank group many years back. The last but not the least, we have with us Dr. Ric Javelosa, another Balikbayan scientist from the Netherlands who is an expert in water management. If you are wondering why we have 2 political scientists in our team that could be explained by the fact that this is really all about good governance. *** Cooperation at the local level The multilateral cooperation model that was developed by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum provides us with a working example that could serve as the basis for promoting cooperation at the local level between and among local government units (LGUs). I have a personal fascination for the APEC model since I have seen it worked with my own eyes, when I headed the team that managed the information and communications technology (ICT) support for the round of meetings that was held here in Manila many years ago, when I was still concurrently the head of ICT for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The APEC model evolved around the legal fiction that civilizations are formed around great bodies of water, and that the economies of these civilizations could cooperate within a forum that would meet and address their common needs and concerns. The idea for economies to cooperate within a forum is very much appropriate for APEC, because from the very start, it was intended to be an economic forum and not a political forum. This intention is born out of the legal fiction that there are no countries in APEC, only economies. It was necessary to pursue this legal fiction, because the geopolitical conditions in the region prevented its members from meeting as countries. In the context of APEC, the Pacific Ocean is the great body of water that binds its members, serving as its common denominator. This is now the model for a local economic cooperation forum that will be created in the Laguna area between 24 communities that are bound together by the Pagsanjan River as their common denominator. Just like APEC, the Laguna forum will have Technical Working Groups (TWGs), Senior Official Meetings (SOMs) and Leader’s Meetings. I am looking forward to similar forums formed around other great bodies of water in the Philippines . *** Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text me at +639293605140. Watch my TV show “KA IKING LIVE” every Friday from 930 to 1030 PM in Destiny Cable Channel 3. Form your own Inter Charity Circle and build our Nation. Tune in to “KAPIT-BAYAN” in DWIZ 882 KHZ 5 to 6 PM Mon to Fri. Ilocos Times copyright 2008 Back to top

Opinions / Columns Right of reply bills Gun at out temples Iodine on wound Tarlac Bishop: Catholics must show displeasure vs. HB 5043 The APEC cooperation model in a local setting Tale of tales Of weight loss and flimsy revolutions Outrage against the demeaning portrayal of Filipina migrant workers