Time for government workers to unite

The bribery-attempt controversy that hounded the Court of Appeals (CA) the past several weeks has led, after an investigation, to sanctions being imposed by the Supreme Court on the justices involved. Some say heavier penalties should have been meted out on those found to have erred, if only to salvage whatever credibility the judiciary might continue to have. Others have expressed at varying decibel notes either concurring or dissenting views.

There is just too much cash and power at stake involving the Government System Insurance System (GSIS) and Meralco—whose feud ignited the bribery scandal—that no one knows what, where and how the next scandal will explode. For now the debris coming from the blast, aside from the one which the public has already come to know as the piling up of dirt at the appellate court, looks poised to continue creating impact on the public that tries hard to make sense out of the mess, and in the process firing up opinion makers, rumormongers and kibitzers in the days to come. Already there are calls for Justice Vicente Roxas, hit hardest by the spanking from the Supreme Court, to disclose everything he knew about the GSIS-Meralco case. Already, somebody wants the lawyer of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, who sits in the Board of the GSIS, investigated.

Honorable judges being charged for malfeasance are a pitiful sight. We cannot say as much about politicians, after all judges do not get to sit where they are on account of popularity and sometimes stolen votes. They get appointed to the bench for their professional qualifications. Or at least that’s how the public should view them.

But sadly, that view—which had been shattered by cases of rogue judges in the past—may have taken irreparable blows from what is happening in the judiciary today.

I think that’s what the bribery attempt scandal was all about. The judiciary has been infested with people who got appointed not so much by merit and fitness, but rather by partisan considerations. For example, one gets reminded of questions raised a year or two ago with regard to the appointment of a Supreme Court justice whose association with Manny Pacquiao, the world’s greatest pound-for-pound professional boxer today and a key political ally of the President, was suspected to have more than compensated for the appointee’s scant qualification in relation to those of other aspirants.

Often Malacanang would argue away the President’s prerogative when the exercise of its power to hire and fire comes into question. And often, too, that argument would end all arguments. But something creeps into the system that pollutes the air, as it were. Because when people believe that theirs is a government of shaky integrity, they pound at points where it has to give, for their benefit. When people know that the government is for sale, they rush to buy at least a piece of it—for their self interest, of course. Added up we have a government that is a certified box-office hit among plunderers, grafters, scalawags, thieves, smugglers, killers, kidnappers, etc. We have a government that rots at all levels and in all its three key branches: the executive, legislative and judiciary.

The GSIS, whose funds are owned by government workers and ought to be free from partisan politics, is similarly contaminated. While on surface its beef with Meralco supposedly arose from its concern for members burdened by rising electricity expenses, in reality GSIS could not hide its partisan duty to the Arroyo government. Malacanang in turn has hardly made any effort to hide its support for GSIS’ eventually gobbling up Meralco.

What rots anywhere rots in GSIS. Reports have it that CA Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez, Jr. has two children who occupy high-paying positions in GSIS. The GSIS has close to a million paying members whose salary is less than 10,000 pesos a month. They constitute the majority of GSIS members owning the GSIS funds. And yet they have no control over how GSIS funds are managed; in fact they don’t even have control over decisions on who should manage those funds.

The GSIS buys paintings worth millions of pesos, while lowly members get shabby treatment from arrogant GSIS employees when they apply for loans. It says its funds are growing; for example from 410 billion in 2006, funds increased to 442 billion in 2007. That rate of growth is about 7.8 percent. But with double-digit inflation, this means GSIS is actually losing, not making, money.

It is time to amend the GSIS Charter, particularly on the way its Board of Trustees is constituted. The current GSIS President, Winston Garcia, is son of a Cebu political leader and brother of the Cebu governor. The Garcias are no doubt indebted to the President; they have been credited for giving her a big margin over her rivals in the last presidential election. Under the present scheme of things, the GSIS is duty bound to serve the one who appoints its Board, and not necessarily to the government workers who own its funds.

It is time for workers in government to unite. They will need to members of the GSIS Board must come from accredited organizations representing government officials and employees. If a law cannot be enacted, then it is time for government workers to shun the GSIS and start organizing a social security organization which they can truly call their own. This is in keeping with the spirit of unionism in the public sector and the promotion of professionalism in the civil service.