Likewise, the argument that the test of the bigness of the bureaucracy is to compare its growth rate with that of the population growth over a certain period of time is sweeping without checking if the ratio of the number of workers vis-a-vis the population has improved. As a matter of fact, the ratio barely increased by over one percent over thirty one (31) years from 1.3 in 1951 to 2.5 in 1990 as aptly stated by a study made by Joel V. Mangahas… “Although it is indeed true that the government size of the Philippines in terms of public expenditure and the number of civil servants has been growing, the growth has been relatively small. To a great extent it can also be claimed that the present size of the Philippine public sector is appropriate or “just right” (or even small) especially when related to growing administrative and pressing socio-economic problems of the nation.”
Indeed, there is no certainty that with a reengineered, or a vastly reduced Davao city bureaucracy, we will have a more efficient public service.
Far from addressing the problems of effectivity in the bureaucracy, the proposed reengineering of the City Government merely victimizes hundreds of thousands of innocent civil servants who will be retrenched en masse and the subsequent creation, abolition, re-creation, division, of departments/units that are actually dispensable.
In the early 70s, the Marcos dictatorship thru its Integrated Reorganization Plan, massively purged government personnel who were suspected to be unfriendly to the dictatorship but who were eventually replaced in greater quantity presumed to be more loyal to President Marcos. As soon as it took over the government, the Aquino administration immediately launched her own purging campaign which resulted to the mass lay-off of 120,000 who were mainly temporary, casual, and contractual workers (IBON Databank, 1990). Although the justification made for the purge were to attain a lean government and make it efficient, it can be seen as an attempt to “de-Marcosify” the bureaucracy which was supposed to break the padrino or patronage system and thereby stunt the professionalization of the bureaucracy according to IBON Databank, 1990.
The Ramos government has been so far successful in the implementation of the various schemes of staff reduction as it has laid-off a total of 328,441 or an average of 107,813 civil servants per year between 1991-1994 citing “A Comprehensive Employment Strategy Program…Public Sector Employment”, by Patricia Sto. Tomas. It has reduced the number of government personnel to the 1980 level, yet aside from the revelry of the Ramos administration for having been praised by the IMF-World Bank for faithfully implementing its conditionalities, the bureaucracy is still suffering from an image of bloatedness as the Filipino people remains deep in the worsening socio-economic crisis.
In 1991, the Aquino regime passed the Local Government Code (LGC) which it considered as a milestone step to address the problem of overcentralization of government. The devolution of functions from the National Government Agencies (NGAs) to the Local Government Units (LGUs) is supposed to empower the latter to improve services to their respective constituents.
However, contrary to its intent, the implementation of the LGC proved to be another arena of competition for turfs among the various interest groups in government. While it relatively diffused the pressure from the national government as the LGUs became the receiving end of complaints and buffer of the NGAs, they remain incapable and unable to respond to even just the basic social services of the more than 75% of the population who reside in the rural areas. As the functions and responsibilities were devolved, there were no corresponding changes in the power structure and fund allocations in support of these.
The immediate impact was on the more than 100,000 civil servants who were dislocated due to their transfer to the LGUs. They were either forced to resign, were not absorbed by the LGUs, or suffered reduction in pay due to lack of funds.
The public estate system, on the other hand, which is supposed to rationalize the production and delivery of public goods thru the use of Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs), is intended conceptually to ensure the availability of basic services to every Filipino household. Over the years however, these GOCCs failed to live up to the expectations due to large scale inefficiencies, exorbitant expenditures, massive losses and huge foreign debts in studies conducted.
We cite that the plans to reengineer the bureaucracy on principles of frugality and prioritization, steering, and compartmentalization is just academic as it did not at all clarify its applicability in the concrete realities of its environment and context. While it claims to promote a lean and mean staffing pattern, the process of re-engineering the bureaucracy also serves as a means to pay-off or isolate the progressives in the ranks of the Career Executive Service Officers (CESOs) and the crackdown on the organized and militant section of the civil servants.
From the point of view of the CESOs and the rank and file of government employees, the process of re-engineering the bureaucracy is but another exercise of patronage system in the positioning of the protges of the politicians and the high bureaucrats while in the process, victimizing hundreds of thousands of government personnel who shall be dismissed in violation of the merit system of the civil service and their security of tenure.
For the public sector workers, this is another round of their continuing struggle to defend their rights as workers much more their right to a source of living and livelihood. And so the call now rings for government employees to unite and oppose the policies of privatization and re-engineering the bureaucracy. As we are yet to see the fruition of our struggle for higher salaries and wages, this is highlighted by measures which again continue to violate the security of tenure of public sector workers as well as the merit and promotion system for career officials in the face of proposed re-engineering policies.
One of government’s key policy of privatization has resulted to mass lay-off, a recent case of which was the sale of the Metropolitan Waterworks & Sewerage System (MWSS) that turned its remaining 5,600 employees as contractual after 2,000 of them were retired earlier.
Thus, government employees contentious issues on salary increase, job security, full union rights will always be legitimate and demand our most urgent attention. It will be too late to oppose the re-engineering program being proposed when its already implemented and mechanics are in place.
In going against dictated policies on mass lay-off and promoting the protection of the basic right on job security, I express my personal position to vehemently oppose the proposed re-engineering scheme of the city as well as all schemes of mass lay-off such as the mandatory 5% reduction of personnel every six months, abolition and mergers of agencies, internal restructuring, regularization of GOCCs, and the like.
If we are to expect government employees to be more efficient in public service, it starts with addressing their needs, it ends with a reorientation of the socio-economic and political system where the government thru its public officials truly serves the interest of the majority poor people, and not the interest of foreign big business and the social elite.
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