The Block Squad in public office
It isn’t the tenth time that ordinary people have complained about strangling regulations, nor is it the fifth time that government employees have used the godly attitude of warped authority to frustrate those in need of help.
For instance, a friend was preparing a site for a new home. In came Mr. DEQ and insisted that a ponding basin be constructed in the property. Perhaps Mr. DEQ means well, but more so than anything else, it’s the display of arrogance that seem to matter most for this public sector employee.
To require residents to build ponding basin anywhere in these isles is but a bureaucratic pitch that, in my view, passes the buck to consumers who can’t afford the demands of environmental regulations. The site in question is inundated with water run-offs since time immemorial. For DEQ to insist on a ponding basin is to admit that it has failed to secure the requisite funds and collateral projects to mitigate destructive erosion.
It’s crazy to insist that residents build ponding basin when the entire area requires something better than a simplistic insistence passing the buck to consumers. Major water run-offs is the obligation of local government. In short, it is very unfair to pass the buck where government has failed to get its act together.
The cost of ponding basins in, i.e., Kanat Tabla, would cost more than proposed family dwellings. New residents would have defeated the purpose of building the first family home. Is DEQ listening?
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Furthermore, there are other government agencies who have dished out next to impossible regulations that at best, delays self-made indigenous people from moving forward with their livelihood.
An industrious friend was stopped from clearing his land. A simple man who’s worked hard all his life, he wasn’t aware that permits are needed where clearing is involved. He apologized and sought help from the pertinent government office only to get undeserved bureaucratic humiliation as though he committed a heinous crime.
Next came another agency and blocked any further land clearing because they have found a rare bird in the area. Thus, my friend can’t proceed with plans to expand his garden because of a rare bird. He asked the government agency to catch Mr. or Miss Bird and move it elsewhere. Fish and Wildlife never did and my friend is stuck with his plans to make way for that suspect bird.
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You may ask: So what’s wrong with government employees following the letter of the law? There’s nothing wrong with it for as long as they understand that their role is to assist those especially in need to move forward with their livelihood.
You see, Mr. Government Employee, encouraging and facilitating even a small commercial farm operation get off the ground so it generates revenue would guarantee your continued employment. You should never forget that your position isn’t to block public service, but to facilitate them forthwith. If this doesn’t sink well into your cranium, then I say, resign!
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This reminds me of a Motor Vehicle trainee who also learned to use laws he doesn’t even know to postpone providing timely services. Man, what mind set we have in government quarters, yeah?
Strictly a personal view. John S. DelRosario Jr. is publisher of Saipan Tribune.
