Right facts, deep analysis, different conclusions

IT is unfortunate that many in our field who like to opine and give their views tend to be defensive and hostile when challenged, or worse, resort to personal invectives rather than respond and adapt. It is never pleasant to be challenged despite what many claim, but when done factually and logically, it is necessary. In the case of this column, my severe skepticism of the appropriateness of nuclear energy for us is well-documented. Alejandro Melchor III is affiliated with a major and respected modular nuclear developer in the US who wants to install some in the Philippines. He wrote a polite "Letter to the Editor" challenging my views. I thanked Melchor for his detailed letter and countered the points he raised and asked clarifications to some issues I raised which his letter did not address. In that vein, I would like to discuss two recent columns from last Friday, one by JC Punongbayan (who I congratulate on his recent TOYM award) on Facebook, which was also be discussed in his Rappler article, and last Friday's column of Boo Chanco on PhilHealth and medical tourism. Please note in keeping with my preferred custom, I will not get into personalities or motives, and assume goodwill and that their well-meaning articles sincerely reflect their intellectual views and not any personal agenda or preference.

Punongbayan's FB post and Rappler article are about outlawing Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) and which we both agree are a scourge that we would be better off without. He argues that given our scant compliance with many laws and poor implementation, banning will not be effective, and it will just move them underground. Right facts and deep analysis, and a justifiable conclusion. I reached a different one. We must ban them. I realize how difficult that is to execute, but to not even try will mire us in continued underperformance. As President Kennedy said about landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade — "We do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard." Important things are usually hard, it does not mean we should not try.