THE EVENTS of the past few months validate what many jaded observers have seen and noted as a hallmark of many who serve in government these days. Gone is the concept of service above self (as a civic club is wont to profess as one of its governing principles). Instead, we now have a proliferation of people eager to enter government, hoping to enrich themselves in the process. And, from what is being revealed by the current Lozada testimonies, the proponents have become incredibly greedy and voracious.
I still remember vividly Ka Jaime Ferrer (who was certainly a paragon of honesty and integrity when he served as Comelec chairman!) recounting to me how he would react when asked by a constituent to be recommended to the revenue agencies like BIR or Customs. He would lash out at them and scold them for asking for those appointments, knowing that they had only one thing in mind: to get rich!
Some two decades back, while the country’s accounts were being put back in order and the international debt pared down, the policy of using Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) became the norm, and the tendency in the past to borrow to fund capital expenditures was discouraged. That is why the brazen (but foiled) attempt at borrowing to fund the government broadband project really strikes one as yet another attempt at personal enrichment at the expense of future generations of taxpayers. But even more stunning is the thought that the basic cost of the project at about $100+ million would have generated more than $250 million in stolen profits for the proponents, using borrowed money at that!
My family has just laid our mother to rest after a life well lived and well spent. My mother belonged to a generation of old-school practitioners who believed in God and practiced honesty in their public and private dealings. They also instilled their hallowed beliefs in us, their children, and we — in turn — have not tired in pointing to our own children the need to put the Commandments and Beatitudes into practice in their own daily lives.
There were so many of my mother’s friends from her childhood and civic action days who passed by to express their sympathies to the family. These were people I had long looked up to and admired over the years, and whose own lives served as formative models. Some had remained purely in the private sector, while others pioneered in education or set the tone in selfless civic involvement. Many of them lamented the apparent loss today of core values and wished for the days when they and my parents would get involved in projects that would help many others without any thought of self-aggrandizement or self-enrichment.
And we wonder why our country can’t seem to get off its collective feet and progress like our neighbors are doing?
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Dear Benny and Tserilu,
How sad indeed that we hear and see so many people going wrong while ostensibly serving in government. On the other hand, in the three times I ventured into government service — the last two times, wisely, as a consultant only — I encountered quite a few selfless and honest government servants. Many of them became good friends, and probably remain so till this day even if we do not see much of each other.
We need more people like your friends and relatives who dared to work well in government without thinking only of enriching themselves. More power to this tribe!
February 20th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
a public servant… funny (err, ironic) they attached that two words and supposedly mean good, isnt it?…but there was a time they existed and pfft, theyr’e gone…well, ok not really gone gone…some managed to stay and keep the public’s faith alive…
i suppose we can come up with a list of reasons citing how and where this infiltration of good-gone-bad (or rather bad-gone- worse?) govt officials started… but i think the fact that we let them in the system bothers me… there was an instance that an aquiantance left her stable job at a govt office because she could not take her boss’ gluttonous acts… can we really just pack up and leave? can we do more than shrug it off?
paradigm shift..it’s about time we change… never been too late to take even baby steps to solve a problem…
February 20th, 2008 at 2:40 am
To JmJ Fernandez;
Your Mom most definitely deserves the best accolades there is for passing over the best upbringing a parent can give her siblings. Your article on the government service - “not for profit” should indeed be enshrined in each public servant’s conciousness for them to deliver what are asked for in their sworn duty. I too, has a father (now deceased) who served in the Phil. government and which I could unequivocally say served the country in dignity and honesty. I could vividly remember a time where he would treat a patient in the wee hour of the morning and when asked by the patient’s relative in what manner can he be paid for- my dad simply said-just take care of the fare for the “kalesa”. We have practically no extra cash in the household to shelve in a few coins for the trip.When my Dad retired- he used a big chunk of the retirement money to build himself and a few more university age brothers and sisters a small house in his province - leaving myself & the others to fetch for themselves into university.
I am sure - your Mom’s and my Dad’s legacy has not been totally erased from the present generation as gleaned from your previous articles on people who have practice such tenets and succeeded.
The missing ingredient can be taken from your last paragraph of this article - where you said in effect - “there is no collective feet” of people doing the right thing. Once this happens - hopefully - the term “gone are the old-age traits …” will be a thing of the past.