Development Entrepreneurs

“D o we want to include the RLTA module or not?” I was in an energetic discussion with my boss and our Application Development partner, debating on the modules to include in an information system for public land titling. For lack of a better name we’re calling our system the “Online Adjudication Kit”, as it’s intended to help adjudicators with their work. (Adjudicators are the DENR and local government officials who help lot occupants determine their claim to a land title, and provide advise on how they can apply for one). A few weeks back we had elicited requirements from users and their officials at the National, Regional, Provincial, CENRO and local government levels. They told what they wanted to see in the system, how they wanted it to use it, how it could help them.  They asked for two things: a module that can be used to record data during field work, and another module to for Rapid Land Tenure Appraisal. Our key informants come from a Region that is very famili...

“ K uya, tam-is kaayo ni ” (“Elder brother, these are sweet”), the kid pitched a bunch of mangoes as soon as the car stopped at the intersection. He must have been about eleven years old, thin, in porontong shorts, a Lakers shirt, and a salesman’s smile. Of course I bought the mangoes.  As I drove away I saw him scamper off around a corner, no doubt to get another bunch of mangoes. I wondered why he didn’t keep his stocks nearer, so he wouldn’t have to run back and forth. That led me to think of other puzzling things.  Like, why do many MRT and LRT commuters pay just enough for one trip, when they could get a Stored Value Card? When you have to stand in a long line, endure the heat and get delayed, it seems to make more sense to get a card that can be used for several trips. Why does a pan handler persist in begging, when all he has to show for a day’s effort are a few coins in his can? Why does DPWH break up what seems like a perfectly good concrete road, ...