As Seen On TV
The business of science and technology
He did not look like your “typical” scientist when he appeared on our show – Dateline Philippines Sunday on ANC. Mario Montejo who introduced himself as the new secretary of the Department of Science and Technology under the Aquino administration, is a mechanical engineer by education and an entreprenuer by profession. As the country’s “head scientist,” he takes on the task to advance Science and Technology (S and T) in the way he sees fit, in the six years that he is given to serve.
For almost a decade Dateline Philippines Sunday featured science and technology to lighten up the weekend newscast. We’ve had acclaimed scientists (practicing or teaching) Filipino inventors, bemedalled science achievers and researchers on the show.
Interacting with them through the years, I have stereotyped scientists as people who are brilliant (minimum requirement), dead serious (general requirement), and a zest for discovery that never ceases.
Their passion for science is fueled by a compulsion for a better-understood world. As artists dabbling in fact and precision, many of them are almost methodical and academic in thought, action or bearing. It’s like always having professors lecturing on the program.
But Mario Montejo bears none of that. He instead exuded the aura of a chief executive officer – which he is – of the Subic-based, Tree Top Adventure Philippines.
“We manage amusement rides in Subic, before I was asked by the president to join the government,” Montejo said.
A neophyte in government service and immersed for years in private endeavor the shift from private citizen-CEO to Secretary of the DOST must require a ton of adjustment?
“It’s quite a different experience,” Montejo said, understatedly.
“I believe the government should support technology which has economic and measurable value,” Montejo said. “If an invention or an undertaking will make the lives of Filipinos better, or if it has economic benefits then I’m all for it,” he added.
Having said that, Montejo had set himself apart from the other DOST honchos. He is, after all, a businessman who believes efforts in the field of S and T must have economic or social merits.
I was tempted to think that his visions include “the advancement of science and technology, education and research in the country” which is a collective battle cry of our guest scientists. Montejo instead offered a less wordy, less lofty vision – but a goal – specific and urgent nonetheless.
“It’s time we use science to do something about the floods,” Montejo said. “Ondoy was a tragedy that could have been avoided if we had monitoring facilities.”
Montejo buckles down to work with a long-term solution to the flooding problem not just in Metro Manila but the rest of the country. He points out that when typhoons strike, the country is always stuck on “relief and rescue mode,” and so little has been achieved, in terms of disaster mitigation.
“The DOST is working on a tight deadline, with La Niña [at the onset]. We need to put in place an online flood forecasting and early warning system. It can give real time updates on rising water levels so the public has ample time to evacuate,” according to Montejo.
No one can stop a natural calamity from happening but how people respond to it is primordial. Responding badly to a calamity is what makes it a disaster. Preparedness on the other hand makes us weather them more easily. Mass transport system is another priority of the DOST. The Philippines, with its fast-growing population, relies on mass transport. There are not enough trains in Metro Manila and other urban areas because the cost of building these mega projects is staggering.
Many projects under the Build-Operate-Transfer scheme are outsourced with private or foreign contractors whose raw materials are imported and expensive. Montejo believes there are other suitable local materials that could reduce the costs of building. It is time to look for these alternatives and change some established processes in doing government projects.
“We have found a way to construct monorail systems like the MRT and the LRT faster and cheaper, using local material which is only a fifth of the cost of projects that use imported materials,” Montejo said.
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I just hope with the fresh priorities of the DOST, its new leadership will not miss out on the basics. Existing technology and facilities – particularly those used by PAGASA – are in dire need of modernization. The Philippines which lies right on typhoon central still cannot track storm systems. The recent onslaught of Basyang and the “miscalculations” by PAGASA resulted in casualties and damages as the typhoon changed its course – pounding the least prepared regions.
The Basyang fiasco led to President Noynoy Aquino’s first official tongue lashing, with PAGASA officials right at its path. Avoidable as they are, the casualties, damages and losses perhaps serve as marching orders, to finally get RP a well-deserved S and T upgrade.
