Where is EO 671?

SOME months back, some friends in the NGO community told me of a petition going around to annul Executive Order 671, a document coming from the Palace which sought to remove the accreditation process from the PCNC and transfer this function to some government agency. Naturally, the NGO community became alarmed because of this unwanted intrusion into a function that is already properly addressed by the private sector. I did a little sleuthing and sent some inquiries to friends "up there." At first, no one seemed able to locate said document, as if it went missing. Finally, a very close friend told me that, not only did he locate it, but that it was undergoing close scrutiny. I gave him an earful on what both I and many in the NGO community thought and he promised to take a closer look. Later on, he informed me that EO 671 was to undergo review and that consultations would be undertaken both within government and with representatives of NGOs. Good! Better yet, I found out a few days ago that this much-maligned EO is now being reviewed by the office of this same friend. Since I know him to be a career officer with an honest and objective mindset, I am hoping that government will see fit to leave things as they are. In the first place, NGOs precisely exist to fill a need or to cover for the inability of government to perform certain functions. While government typically takes care of big ticket items like capital expenditures and prays for a trickle-down effect to the marginalized sectors, an NGO usually tackles niche segments of society, each with its special set of needs with a minimum of resources. The problem probably came up when government began to confuse the typical NGO with other groups they brand as POs (Peoples Organizations), Political Organizations, et al. Maybe the tendency of the government to see Red every time an NGO appears in the picture adds to this sense of insecurity. My ten centavos' worth of advice -- which is usually ignored anyhow -- is for government to let the private sector do what it does best with a minimum of interference. Once the bureaucracy steps in, the effectiveness of the average NGO will be neutralized. God forbid!