Quantum Meruit

Sorry for introducing a term that law students pick up from their Obligations and Contracts class. Wikipedia defines this latin phrase to mean “as much as he has deserved.” In the context of contract law, it means something like “the reasonable value of a service performed.”

I am using this phrase within the context of last week’s reference to the “ridiculous” gross monthly salary of P95,000 paid to the highest official of the land. The day after, an informative expose was published by another newspaper on the salaries and allowances received by other government officials. In this regard, certain legislators immediately called for an investigation on the matter. A good move, although I hope that whatever findings they unearth during their investigation will be applied to them as well.

I received interesting reactions as well from several readers, two of which I would like to share with you. Reader Joy Tio believes that “the salaries and honoraria received by officials of GOCCs such as the SBMA, CDC, LBP, DBP, etc.. are unconscionable.” Moreso she argues that “if we think about it, all the information they need to make those strategic decisions are the result of the day to day efforts of the countless employees, the rank and file who only earn a fraction of what these officials earn.”

On the other hand, I received an email as well from Department of Budget and Management Secretary Butch Abad. As the overseer of the country’s P1.54-trillion budget, he apparently gets a monthly net pay of P49,887.26. And yet he is already somewhat thankful as this is already much better than the monthly net of P29,500 he used to get as Secretary of the Department of Education where he supervised over 500,000 principals and teachers. He ended his reaction by saying that “we have to admire good people in public service who have been toiling for years at this level of pay.” Amen to Sec Butch’s statement but not to his salary!

I have my own four centavos to the newspaper article regarding the compensation of GOCC officials. 

First, how accurate were the figures presented? The SBMA Administrator was quick to deny his P26 million annual paycheck saying that not all of that money went to his pocket. To be fair, these officials should be given the opportunity to refute the figures presented. As stated earlier, a legislative inquiry on this issue may be helpful. 

Second, but even if the figures are true, I dare say that some of those in the list seemed to deserve the compensation received given that official’s scope of work and job responsibilities. 

I share the observation of Rep. Sonny Angara that we have to distinguish between those who occupy line functions and are involved in the day to day operations of an agency or company as opposed to those positions who merely perform an advisory role or provide recommendatory. Obviously the former should be compensated more. Not only is that person performing substantially more work, but the latter is also allowed to seek other employment opportunities elsewhere. 

As briefly discussed in last week’s column, “fairness” of compensation should also be benchmarked against similar positions in the private sector. While parity is not required as part of the public servant’s compensation is the ideal that he or she is helping promote the common good, still the salary should be a living wage that would allow the public officer concerned to live in a comfortable and dignified manner. Again, these low wages are, to my mind, one of the root causes of corruption in the country. Rather than tolerating under the table, unreceipted payments, the State should provide more resources to its employees but, at the same time, demand greater transparency and accountability in public dealings. It should not allow the anomalous situation of city engineers who issue building or occupancy permits to earn more than the president of companies who construct such buildings. 

Combing through the list, the governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earns around P7 million a year. Sounds fair to me especially since most bank presidents, the institutions of which he regulates and supervises, earns more than that. If government really wants to attract the “best and the brightest”, then it must seriously look at the way it pays its public servants. This brings me back to the principle of quantum meruit. If we refuse to follow this legal lesson that has withstood the test of time, then we should accept the modern adage, “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”

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You never know: In August 2005, I was fortunate to have been invited by Oishi founder, Ambassador Carlos Chan, to join a group of politicians, businessmen, and journalists to visit the City of Urumqi, which is the capital of Xinjiang province in Western China. This is a province mainly inhabited by Uighurs, Chinese nationals who speak fluent Mandarin but who look more Persian and Turkish. They prefer to eat kebabs more than sweet and sour pork. Part of that delegation was the late STAR publisher, Max Soliven. I remember marveling at how disciplined Uncle Max was with writing his column. From time to time, he would sneak out to go back to his room and start pounding away at his typewriter. After he was finished, he would look for a business center and fax his column to the STAR. Five years later, here I am in northeastern China, in a city which lies in the border of China, North Korea and Russia, trying to cobble together a column. In this regard, I would never have thought that: 1) I would be writing for the STAR and occupying the Saturday space of Uncle Max; 2) I would cramming as well to finish a column and hoping that the internet connection in this part of the world will not fail; and 3) I would be visiting a place which has the largest volcanic lake in the world, unbelievable scenery and the best foot massage I have experienced. Truly, Forrest Gump was right — “Life is a box of chocolates, you never really know what you are going to get.” I wonder what you, dear reader, and me will be doing five years from now...

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“Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” — Henry Ford

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