Hiring/promotion abuses in gov’t

It was more than two years ago when Benigno C. Aquino III was elected president. I am among those who saw a flicker of hope in his “daang matuwid” crusade. The Filipino people trusted him because both his parents selflessly served this country.

But President Aquino cannot do by his lonesome all the daunting tasks expected of his office. That’s why he has to delegate his power to trusted people who can serve as his alter ego.

He told the Filipino people “kayo ang boss ko,” referring to the ordinary folks, during his inaugural address. Should he listen to the sentiments of the people and not just rely on surveys and one-sided, wordy in-house reports?

Radical change in our government will not work overnight. But we cannot simply shrug our shoulders if we want our leaders to adhere to P-Noy’s standards. Self-serving, arrogant, dictator-type office heads who are blinded by fleeting power have no place in P-Noy’s presidency.

One way of curbing the ills in this country is to start with the hiring/promotion process in government offices. When those who are hired and promoted are not worthy of their posts, they contribute to an inefficient bureaucracy.

Recently, I and many others fell victim to grave abuse of discretion by the head of our agency. Having emerged, out of a hundred applicants for a regular item with Salary Grade 11, number one in the shortlist was still not enough. The reason? I am already 42 years old. But, mind you, others older than I am got hired though their ranks were far lower than mine. Also, there was no age limit when I applied for the job.  Sadly, the letters asking for reconsideration I sent to the office have fallen on deaf ears.

Despite what happened, I am keeping faith with P-Noy’s promise of good governance.

How funny that in our office we recite every Monday the core values of our agency, namely: patriotism, professionalism, integrity, blah, blah, blah. But these Monday avowals have become meaningless, merely paid lip service by our appointive officials.

By the way, I am a mother to three girls whose bright future should be secured, especially now that I am 42 years old. Why I have remained a contractual employee, whose status is renewable every six months for more than three years now despite my being a career service professional and sub-professional passer with two PRC licenses, I cannot understand. From where I am looking, permanent items hereabouts are bestowed only to a privileged few “children of the gods.”

Can dear P-Noy, my idol, and the fearless former human rights commissioner and now Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, look into this matter, please?

—BELEN D. ASUELO,

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