Ill conceived

Administrations come and go but so far none of them has realized that not all government policies and programs have to be changed every time a new regime takes over. As happened before and still happening now, it seems that every administration is of the belief that upon taking over, there is an entirely new ball game to be played, and that it can therefore review and change the rules, all the players and even the game itself, all over again.

Needless to say, this practice has more adverse than favorable effects on our country. Lack of continuity of government policies and programs somehow portrays a picture of haziness in the economic outlook and even instability in public service.

While it can be said that we have already achieved some semblance of political stability, foreign and even domestic capitalists are still hesitant to invest substantial amounts of money here. Most of them are somehow deterred from doing business in our country because of a certain sense of uncertainty brought about by the realization that after six years, there will be another group of people in government they will be dealing with.

This situation is exacerbated even more by the present administration’s attitude of suspecting that all deals entered into by the past administration are tainted with irregularities and should therefore be reviewed. Hence, so far, the three main branches of the government have been saddled with so many cases under review, audit, investigation, hearing and other means of unearthing anomalies such that up to now, after more than one and a half years in power, even it’s much vaunted flagship Private Partnership Program (PPP) on various government projects has not taken off the ground.

But the more serious consequences of changes in administration are on the strength and stability of the civil service especially the middle and upper level executive positions in government bureaus, agencies, instrumentalities including government owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) which are mostly occupied by the so called technocrats or highly qualified, competent and dedicated professionals.

These technocrats, especially in the GOCCs with original charters, were lured to serve their country and leave their relatively lucrative jobs in the private sector mainly because of the security of tenure. They believe that within that time frame of service fixed by special law for their positions, they will have accomplished what they set out to do so that when then get back to the private sector again, they will at least feel proud of having contributed something to their country’s welfare.

In other words to these people, the main attractions of these positions are not their juicy perks and intoxicating powers. It is the thought that they will be able to contribute to the betterment of our society without fear of being unceremoniously kicked out in the midst of performing their functions simply because a new set of political leaders have been elected to take over the reins of power in the government.

But this set-up is apparently good only on paper. What has been happening every time a new administration takes over is that these executives are subtly reminded that they have new bosses who would like to put people they know and can trust. Hence thousands of positions become vacant every six years, not only because their terms are co-terminus with the appointing power but also because, their occupants are given subtle but compelling hints to vacate their positions.

Of course, there are also some valid reasons for resorting to this kind of rigodon every six years. And these reasons became more valid because of the previous administration’s move to fill up these juicy positions with unqualified and unfit personnel like the manicurist in Malacanang who was appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of a GOCC. Such practice really posed a problem for the people of the incoming administration and led them to believe that this may be happening in other GOCCs.

So in some sort of a knee jerk reaction, the incoming Congress controlled by the new party in power enacted Republic Act 11491 otherwise known as the “GOCC Governance Act of 2011”. This law is applicable to all “GOCCs including Government Financial Institutions created and vested with functions by special law”.

One of the main features of this law is that the GOCCs will be run like corporations under a Board of Directors whose members are appointed by the President from a shortlist prepared by a newly created “central advisory monitoring and oversight body called the “Governance Commission for Government Owned and Controlled Corporations” or GCG for short (Chapter II Section 5). The term of office of a Board Member is for one year unless sooner removed for cause or until the successor is appointed. The Board then shall elect from among its ranks the Chief Executive Officer or the highest ranking officer provided in the charters of the GOCCs which shall be done annually. The CEO shall be subject to the disciplinary powers of the Board and may be removed by the Board for cause (Sections 17 and 18).

Obviously, this law is so sweeping and violates the security of tenure of the CEO or President of the GOCCs as fixed by their special charter. The positions have become highly politicized and controlled by a super body under the Office of the President. The Board members appointed by the President can change the CEO every year. This is undoubtedly so short a term for a position with complicated functions requiring longer periods to produced fruitful and effective results.

Indeed the law has recently found perhaps its first victim in the person of the incumbent president of the Philhealth. While in the US for some official mission, he found himself without a job when he returned because the new board decided to elect a new President pursuant to this new law even if under the Philhealth charter his term will still expire in 2013.

Apparently, this new law is an ill conceived solution to a problem that may not really be that grave and far reaching. –Jose C. Sison (The Philippine Star)