Pre-Semester Frontier Post 29
NEA is a regulatory body. It’s power is to supervise, but not control or directly operate
Let’s talk analogy. The NEA is a regulatory body, just like the LTO, NTC, LWUA and BSP. These bodies regulate private entities which is why their power over them is limited. There are no public funds invested in private entities.
So government regulators can only ensure these private entities follow the law only on matters directly affecting public interest, like service rates, etc. But these regulators do not participate in the daily operations of these private companies. Power to supervise is not power to control.
The supervisor cannot substitute his own wisdom to that of the boards of directors of private entities. That would amount to nationalizing these companies, which is not the intention of Congress in ANY of the laws that created these bodies. Sometimes, administrative bodies like to expand the law beyond the intent of Congress. They have rulemaking powers, but no authority to legislate. Unless, you draw the line, abuse will proliferate–and we will end up with a situation even worse than martial law.
LTO would appoint the GM of Victory Liner, Philippine Rabbit, etc. NTC would appoint the station manager of KLite-FM, Star FM, etc. and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas would appoint the GM of every bank…I think NEA realizes the enormity of its mistake, but is too proud to retreat. When this reaches the Supreme Court, however long that takes, NEA will lose. And it will lose huge.
About the Author
The author is a writer and lawyer based in Baguio City, Philippines. Former editor of the Gold Ore and Baguio City Digest, professor of journalism, political science and law at Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF). He is a photographer and video documentarist. He has a YouTube channel called “Parables and Reason”
About Images: Some of the images used in the articles are from the posts in Atty. Joel Rodriguez Dizon’s Facebook account, and/or Facebook groups and pages he manages or/and part of.