Before her seven-year term ended last Feb. 1, Karina Constantino-David voiced her frustrations in her job as head of the Civil Service Commission. Among the administrations since the restoration of democracy in 1986, David said, the Arroyo administration has named the biggest number of presidential appointees to the bureaucracy. David also lamented that Malacañang routinely set aside recommendations of the CSC on appointments and promotions, which the civil service chief had wanted to be based on merit rather than connections.
The bureaucracy is bloated enough and needs to be trimmed instead of being flooded with political appointees. A CSC study bared last January showed that the Arroyo administration has hired an excess of 81 Cabinet undersecretaries and assistant secretaries as well as 53 presidential advisers and assistants and an unknown number of consultants.
Civil service eligibility is no guarantee of competence, and the President has the prerogative to put her appointees in key positions in the bureaucracy. But the prerogative, like all other executive powers, can be abused. The President should lead in encouraging professionalism in government service by rewarding competence and allowing the cream to rise. Instead government positions are treated as just another political reward, doled out in exchange for loyalty, sycophancy and political support.
Can the head of the civil service create a lean, professional bureaucracy where meritocracy rules without support from the head of government? David tried but found many daunting roadblocks along the way. This is the challenge facing her successor, Ricardo Saludo, who has long been a staunch defender of the President. Many reforms needed in the bureaucracy can put Saludo on a collision course with Malacañang. Is he up to the challenge?
The best performing economies around the world have professional bureaucracies that can withstand political turbulence and changes at the top levels of government. These are economies where transparency and the rule of law prevail, and where even if connections matter, merit and competence matter even more. With Malacañang unable to lead the way, the Civil Service Commission must do what it can to create a professional bureaucracy.
The bureaucracy is bloated enough and needs to be trimmed instead of being flooded with political appointees. A CSC study bared last January showed that the Arroyo administration has hired an excess of 81 Cabinet undersecretaries and assistant secretaries as well as 53 presidential advisers and assistants and an unknown number of consultants.
Civil service eligibility is no guarantee of competence, and the President has the prerogative to put her appointees in key positions in the bureaucracy. But the prerogative, like all other executive powers, can be abused. The President should lead in encouraging professionalism in government service by rewarding competence and allowing the cream to rise. Instead government positions are treated as just another political reward, doled out in exchange for loyalty, sycophancy and political support.
Can the head of the civil service create a lean, professional bureaucracy where meritocracy rules without support from the head of government? David tried but found many daunting roadblocks along the way. This is the challenge facing her successor, Ricardo Saludo, who has long been a staunch defender of the President. Many reforms needed in the bureaucracy can put Saludo on a collision course with Malacañang. Is he up to the challenge?
The best performing economies around the world have professional bureaucracies that can withstand political turbulence and changes at the top levels of government. These are economies where transparency and the rule of law prevail, and where even if connections matter, merit and competence matter even more. With Malacañang unable to lead the way, the Civil Service Commission must do what it can to create a professional bureaucracy.
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