Scolding career people publicly

The cardinal rule in people leadership and human capital management is to praise your subordinates publicly and to criticize them privately. The President, via national television, in his fourth State of the Nation Address, which was seen all over the world, berated his own people who are in charge of the Customs Bureau, the Immigration Bureau and the National Irrigation Commission. These guys might have deserved those hurting words, but did it add a feather to the cap of the President? Did they make him a better leader? Did it accomplish anything but the silent bitterness in the hearts of many innocent public servants who were hit, by collateral damage, along with the really guilty scalawags? This was a style that the late President Cory has never used and Senator Ninoy would have never done.

There is no question that there are many rascals in barongs and scoundrels in business suits. But these people can be investigated, prosecuted, and if found guilty, convicted and jailed for the longest time allowable by law. But, under our system of law and justice, even hardened criminals are entitled to due process and are allowed the constitutional presumption of innocence. The Secretary of Justice even blew her top for the alleged rub-out of suspected heinous criminals. Why would the highest official of the land act as the accuser, prosecutor, judge and sheriff all rolled into one? Why would a very powerful man embarrass middle echelon career men in public service, instead of silently firing them and bringing them to court or sending them to prison, without unduly causing anguish to their families?

There was a much respected official of the weather bureau who had to resign unceremoniously simply because he could not foretell the direction and intensity of a typhoon, given the stone-age equipment of the agency. The Customs Commissioner was a well-loved member of Congress who was making good in the House. He was enticed to accept the Customs portfolio, a lamb who was walking into the den of lions. The Immigration Commissioner had a very good track record as a civil servant but he was heading a very problematic bureau and was not given enough support to succeed. The performance of NIA was adversely affected by the series of typhoons and natural disasters. They were all condemned without being heard first.

Even convicted murderers and rapists have human dignity. They are also children of the Lord, created in the image and likeness of God. They have families and friends who can be brought to shame and extreme humiliation. These public officials have children and grandchildren in schools who have deep affection and love for their old man. For the President to berate the person they idolize, to scold him with too many harsh and cruel words, via national television, would be to add insult to too much injury. If indeed, the President has the facts proving that these people are guilty, there is a right way to do the right thing at the right time and in the right place. And he knows how.

With all due respect to the President, his high approval rating does not give him a license to hurt the feelings of his own subordinates. He was the one who appointed them, or they are Career Executive Service Officers who could not be dismissed based on suspicion or rumors or unproven allegations. To be fair and just to all, if public scolding is the new element of due process, then the MWSS head who allegedly hired thousands of consultants should be berated, too. The labor attachés who were unable to protect OFWs abroad should be scolded, too. The policemen and NBI agents who could not arrest the top criminals should be fired. Why choose only some hapless targets and earn credit for doing so. At the end of the day, scolding your own people in public may even cause endemic demoralization among civil servants. It does not at all earn for the Chief Executive the respect for and loyalty to a true leader. President Cory would have reprimanded her only son for doing just that.