EDITORIAL – An exemplary public servant

In the month dedicated to Philippine civil servants, Haydee Yorac succumbed to cancer. She battled the illness as spiritedly as she waged the other battles of her life, fighting for human rights during the Marcos dictatorship and working for clean elections when democracy was restored.

If the nation is united in mourning her passing, it is because Yorac was that rare creature in this country: an honest, competent and dedicated public servant. Last year she was honored with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service – a recognition that was richly deserved.

Her life should serve as an inspiration to over a million public servants, many of whom are overworked, underpaid and vulnerable to corruption or the lure of better paying jobs overseas. Her death should also serve as a reminder to the government that the bureaucracy needs to become more professional.

If the nation is to move forward, the bureaucracy needs to be streamlined. It is no coincidence that Asia’s most successful economies also have the most professional bureaucracies, free of red tape and corruption, well trained and well paid. Streamlining the bureaucracy will become more urgent if the nation shifts to a parliamentary form of government. The bureaucracy must be efficient and professional enough to withstand changes in administrations, which can be relatively easy under a parliamentary system.

These days budget constraints will make it difficult for the government to attract people with the qualifications of Haydee Yorac to join the bureaucracy. It is possible, however, to work within the system and upgrade the capabilities of the bureaucracy through training and incentives. It is also possible to introduce reforms slowly to professionalize the civil service.

Yorac’s passing is a reminder of her work as an official of the Commission on Elections, and the pressing need to overhaul the electoral system. She also left behind unfinished business at the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which is still trying to recover wealth believed to have been illegally amassed by the Marcoses. In all her endeavors Yorac showed what competence, integrity and dedication could do. She is sorely missed.