What working in gov’t taught me

I have always wanted to work in the government.

When I was in elementary and high school, I often criticized the government in school essays. I hated the corruption and inefficiency issues that were reported by the media. Back then, I had this idealistic notion that once I joined the government, I could make the necessary changes to finally make things right.

To be fair, this is not without any basis. I was part of student government both in elementary and high school. I even became president when I was in sixth grade and fourth-year high school. For all its faults, my administration was able to implement new projects. I thought, that if I and my colleagues could be effective officers in a school setting, we could also be effective officials or employees in the government.

In college, I enrolled in a political science program in the hope of learning more about our laws and government systems. Immediately after reaching the age of 18, I took the civil service exam and passed.

The following year, I had my internship in a government agency as required by our college department. That was my first glimpse of what is it like to work in the government. Honestly, I was prepared to be disappointed. But I was glad that my experience was good overall.

Contrary to what I expected, the people I worked with were not slackers. They were also not ill-tempered or rude. Using Gen Z lingo, some may describe this as the “bare minimum.” They are paid using public funds to do their job, so they are supposed to be as efficient and as nice as possible.

I believe, however, that there is nothing wrong in appreciating the efforts of good government employees no matter how regular they may seem. It is also pleasant to see such a good side of the government which is not often reported in the news.

After obtaining my undergraduate degree at the age of 20, I applied for various positions in the government. While my internship experience gave me hope about the government, my desire to work for the public sector to make a change remained.

In fact, I am still critical of the government. In one job interview, I was asked about my opinion on the war on drugs and the TRAIN (or Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) law. I did not mince words and described them as “problematic” policies. To my surprise, I was still hired for a policy researcher position where I worked on several policies that the government has implemented, is currently implementing, or proposing.

My experience this time was much richer compared with my internship. In that job, I worked with a lot of hardworking people across the bureaucracy. I met colleagues who worked beyond office hours. I remember attending various budget hearings in Congress where we worked as late as 10 p.m. even though we clocked in at 7 a.m.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I recall staying up until midnight as part of the support staff to our principals during the hearing of Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. We also worked during weekends working on reports pertaining to several economic relief measures. We were cognizant of the importance of timely submission of outputs given the crisis that our country was then facing.

My current job is not that different. Although we are not obliged to work outside office hours because work-life balance is being promoted, I know colleagues who voluntarily do their jobs more than eight hours a day. When we discuss policies that we are implementing or drafting, we also exchange opinions with the end goal of genuinely helping the public.

This is not, in any way, a romanticization of working over and above the expectations of our job descriptions. I know that many government agencies are aware of burnout or stress that employees may experience with a lack of time to rest. Different measures are already being implemented to address such issues.

I realized, however, that making a change in our society is not easy. People in the government sometimes have to work hard beyond work hours. It is completely different from running a project or two as student government president since work in the government is much more complicated and the issues that we seek to address are often structural or deep-seated, thereby requiring not just efforts from civil servants but also from the private and public sectors.

I also realized that there are a lot of government officials and employees who are genuine in their duty to serve the country. Many are dedicated to doing their jobs which is incompatible with the corrupted image that I had of them when I was a kid.

Of course, working in the government is not always rainbows and butterflies. I also had my fair share of unpleasant experiences. But looking at the bigger picture, I know that it is not for a lost cause. Moreover, I now fully understand that since no human is perfect, no organization is perfect. What is important is that we in the government are doing our best to do our work.

—————–

Aldrin S. Odinada, 25, works in government. He has an undergraduate degree in political science from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Manila and is a graduate student of public management at the University of the Philippines Manila.