Are all government personnel deserving of three bonuses?

It has been announced by Malacañang last week, that prior to this coming Christmas, all government employees shall receive three emoluments on top of their salaries: the 13th month pay equal to one month pay, the so-called Productivity Enhancement Incentive pegged at P10,000 across-the-board, which may be increased in amount, and what is called the Performance-Based Bonus, ranging from P5,000 to P35,000. Well, the first question is what is the distinction between productivity and performance? Second, are the productivity and performance standards and measures fool-proof, so as to avoid discrimination, “palakasan’’ and other forms of abuses and misuse of public funds?

There is no question that many state personnel are deserving of three or even more bonuses for services well done to the Filipino people. Our public school teachers, the traffic policemen, the soldiers out there in the frontlines, the firemen, the health workers, the election personnel and many other unsung heroes in the government bureaucracy, they deserve to be granted more monetary rewards. Many of them do face grave and imminent dangers to their lives and health, their security and well-being. There is no amount that can ever be enough to recognize their tremendous contribution to public service and to nation-building.

However, with due respect, there a lot of civil servants who do not even deserve their current position. Political appointees, those who have neither the skills nor the character of a public servant, the so-called “15-30'’, those who are “bata’’ of the congressmen and other politicians who do not perform any useful function nor serve the people, do not deserve to get any windfall at all. These people are favored and are given very special treatment by heads of government agencies, especially those “recommended’’ (actually, they are usually forced upon the agencies) by influence-peddling politicians who are members of the Appropriation Committee, controlling the agencies’ budget.

It may be argued that there are sound criteria and perhaps professionally-formulated standards of performance, based  on clearly identified Major Final Outputs as well as Priority Programs and Projects, as agreed by each Department Secretary with the President himself, under the latter’s Five Key Result Areas. But many heads of offices do play politics in manipulating the Performance Evaluation System. These heads often, by exercise of their prerogatives, misuse or abuse the evaluation system in order to give undue advantage to a favored few. More so, today, when we are going to have an election sometime in the middle of next year, that heads may most probably use the bonuses as rewards to their favorites.

Thus, there is a real danger that the undeserving may receive much more than the deserving ones. The bonus may unwittingly serve as a tool for head offices to get special favors from the beneficiaries of government’s largesse. There will be those who are competent, hardworking and honest and yet, because they are “malayo sa kusina’’, they might get less or even none at all. Therefore, these multiple bonuses may cause demoralization, thereby violating their own rationale for the grant. 

There are many government employees who should not receive such bonuses, especially the lazy ones, the incompetent, the inept and the dishonest. And yet, the irony is that these kind of personnel are the first ones who would always demand for more. And since, they know how to maneuver their way in office politics and “palakasan’’, they would be the preferred beneficiaries of these bonuses. As long as the heads of agencies and offices are human beings, these bonuses can be used as instruments of vengeance and tools for manipulation.

I come from government and I know what is happening down there. There are many good and deserving civil servants and they are truly deserving of three bonuses. But out there, there are government employees who serve no useful purpose and are, in fact, heavy burdens to the taxpayers. They have no right to get bonuses at all. If the government should reward even the undeserving, then public service will continue to deteriorate. The victims would again be the Filipino people. Pastilan gayod.