My office-mates and I were having lunch when they complained about the late release of their salary. I hear a lot of stories about late release of documents and what not. Though I am a new hire, these stories are not surprising. I took a few Public Administration units in the university and did a lot of project evaluation back in college. But theories and research results are different from first hand experience. So I asked around in our office, trying to find out who needs to be held accountable.

First I asked my colleague from the admin department. In our agency, we don’t have an HR personnel so all tasks related to employees are automatically given to the admin department – even if it is not their job. We are over a hundred and there is only one person working on our papers. Imagine that -  everyone’s payroll, contract, daily time record (DTR), on top of her real job – admin work.

True - that’s a lot of work. Should this person be held accountable?  Yes. Accountability is responsibility. She accepted the job. This is now her responsibility. Why did she accept the job, you ask?

“Ganon talaga, masanay ka na” she said.

NO. It should never be “ganon talaga.” More so, we should never get used to this system.

Last week, a project manager of a different component asked me and my team leader if I can work for her component as well. Honestly, I am interested in being part of their component because it has a better grasp of how the system works. There, I am not just reliant - I can be hands on with the procedures and protocols. I can be in control, to some extent. But of course, I said no.

It is not in my contract. Why the hell would I say yes? It is understandable how fear of losing a job pressures the heck out of someone to say yes to a “boss”. The question is, why would a boss – who I assume to have the prudence and professionalism, would give such tasks? What is that, power tripping?  In her case, she can hire someone to do the job. The only thing she must do is prepare the qualifications for the post. I told her that when I said no. Her response was… *drumroll* “It is not my priority.” Let me be clear: writing a terms of reference is not her priority so she will just “borrow” people from other components, burden them with a bulk of work (- which are not part their job to begin with), and let the other teams sacrifice. How self-serving is that?  

And I must admit, it’s quite flattering to have someone trust me with a big responsibility but saying yes to this encourages  the “bulok na sistema”.

It is hard to say no, especially to a “boss”. But think of it this way: this negative two-letter word can have a positive ripple. For one, you don’t burden yourself with a ton of work . By having a number of things in your to do list, you may sacrifice the quality of your work. Either that, or you won’t be able to finish anything on time.

Often we complain about our government’s system. But are we doing something to change it, or contribute to change at the very least? One thing is for sure – we are all accountable here. Working in the government is tough, especially when you are the young one – the ideal one. It is tough when you know something is not right but you don’t have the power and authority to say that it is wrong. Personally, I take it as a challenge. As long as I see something is wrong, the more I want to work on it. We should never settle with “ganon talaga” because this is why we are here. This is what our generation’s contribution to our country – our idealism, our vision, and most importantly our progressive action (as simple as saying NO) towards change.  We must always put in mind that working in the government isn’t just a job, it is service. It is not just about compliance and salary. Whatever we do, affects our clients – the Filipino people.