Rotary Club of Marikina
Good afternoon.
Firstly, i would like to thank you for inviting me here. I am honored to be part of this gathering, and it is my pleasure to address this distinguished group.
I am here today to speak about my experience as a public servant. Last December, i was named among the outstanding young men of the Philippines for 2006, in the field of government service. I am elated to receive such a recognition, of course. But the truth is that until about six years ago, i never even thought i would be working for the Philippine government.
I grew up with a high regard for government employees because both my parents were public servants. My father was a member of the judiciary, while my mother was an employee at the SSS.
However, I never really seriously thought of working for the government. In fact I spent most of my college life as an activist, strongly criticizing the government, shouting slogans essentially calling for it to be brought down.
Before I joined the Pag-IBIG Fund I was a practicing lawyer. And like anyone in the private sector, my colleagues and I had our share of criticisms against the government. We complained against the slow service, the ineptitude of many government workers, the red tape, and the rampant corruption that goes on in many levels of the government bureaucracy.
I guess I was like most Filipinos in that respect. We have practically raised complaining against the government to an art form. But for me, it got to the point that i just grew tired of the constant complaining. I felt that we in the private sector have been doing nothing but complain, and that doesn’t really accomplish anything. Wala namang nagbabago.
So when I was presented with the opportunity to join the government through the Pag-IBIG , I saw it as a chance to actually do something about those things that have been the objects of our incessant complaints. I thought, here was a good opportunity to help change things.
The Pag-IBIG Fund certainly was a good starting point. When I joined the fund, it was just another government agency that was not really well known. I doubt that many of its members even knew or cared about the Pag-IBIG Fund then, apart from that fact that it is one of those names listed on their payslip under “deductions.”
My predecessors had a done a good job of protecting the fund, but I guess that did not do much for its growth and activity as an institution, in much the same way that overprotective parents would inhibit a child’s creativity and development.
When I first joined Pag-IBIG , I saw that it did not fit the typical image of a government office. It was not a cesspool of corruption. It was not staffed by lazy and inept employees who punched in at 8am, left the office at precisely 5pm, and did very little in between.
On the contrary, Pag-IBIG had a wealth of good, reliable people in its roster. But it was like a powerful engine that wasn’t firing on all cylinders. It had a lot of potential that was largely untapped. That convinced me all the more that it could do a whole lot better. And i was determined to see that happen on my watch.
It wasn’t easy, of course. Apart from being the young upstart who has been put in charge of many veterans in the fund, I faced various challenges inherent in the fund itself as an institution.
First, unlike other government institutions, like the SSS and GSIS, Pag-IBIG Fund is still subject to the salary standardization law. Not only were the employees being paid less than their private sector counterparts, but we could not raise their salaries even when the fund started earning higher incomes. As a tool for improving personnel efficiency, salary increases were not among our options.
Secondly, more than half of our employees are contractual hires. The lack of tenure of the bulk of Pag-IBIG employees had serious implications on efficiency.
Thirdly, we are working with very limited resources. Today, we are only collecting one hundred pesos per member every month, plus the employer’s equivalent counterpart contribution. This contribution rate for Pag-IBIG members was set more than two decades ago, and has not been changed since then. The value of the peso has depreciated considerably in more than two decades, but we’re still constrained to collect the same amount.
Another factor that limits our resources is the fact that unlike SSS and GSIS, we are not a tax-exempt institution. Instead of devoting all our income to our member’s benefits, we have to turn over some of it to the national government.
Fourth, there are the bureaucratic hurdles that have seriously limited the growth of Pag-IBIG’s centerpiece program, which is the housing loan. Apart from the fact that the interest rates were not very competitive, borrowers had to deal with having to submit as many as 17 required documents, and waiting for up to 40 days for the loan application to be processed. There were high processing fees that had to paid. Not surprisingly, these deterred many low-income workers who would have wanted to avail of housing loans.
Despite these challenges, we succeeded in transforming the fund into a more dynamic institution. By adopting innovative policies and making some very bold changes, we were able to maximize our resources, motivate the employees and raise awareness about the fund itself. Moreover, we were able liberalize the housing loan program to make it more attractive and accessible to low income earners.
Today, Pag-IBIG is one of the biggest income earning corporations in the country, and the leading force in shelter finance.
I think that in accomplishing what we have with the Pag-IBIG Fund, we have proven that government can and does work. We have shown that, in terms of performance, we can be at par or even better than the private sector.
I believe that what we have established is no less than compelling evidence that a government agency can overcome its limitations, that government wages and bureaucracy are not valid excuses for mediocrity.
In physics, efficiency is defined as the relationship between energy input and ouput. Finger pointing takes energy. Complaining takes energy. So does finding someone to blame. And these are all energy wasted because they don’t really produce positive output.
We can get more results if we stopped finger pointing and instead devoted all our energy to solving problems and getting things done.
I think that is what our country needs right now—the resolve among its people to work on finding solutions to our problems. We already have a surplus of critics and nay-sayers.
About two weeks ago, I spoke before a group of young people in a forum organized by youth leaders in san juan. A young man asked me what qualities are needed to accomplish what we have in government service. It’s a very good question, but one that i do not ask myself too often.
I said then that one very important quality is a purity of purpose. I think dalisay na hangarin was how i put it. One does not go into government service for the financial rewards because, frankly, there’s not much of that. You have to really want to serve the public. In that sense, government work is both profession and vocation.
One also needs integrity. It’s such a simple word, but it encompasses many things—honesty, honor, strength of character, uprightness and reliability. It is what one needs to resist being swept by the tides of corruption that have been engulfing the government bureaucracy for a long time.
One needs dedication. In the face of challenges, setbacks, delays, and detours, we have to remain committed to our goal.
And finally, the passion and the drive to see things through.
It was our drive to succeed that allowed us to increase Pag-IBIG ’s net income year after year for the past six years, and transform it from a virtual unknown into one of the top corporations in the country in terms of income.
It was our drive that turned it into a financially stable corporation with a triple “a” credit rating, the highest for any government institution.
It was our drive that enabled the 300% growth in Pag-IBIG ’s housing loan program. It was our drive that put us ahead of any government financial institution and any private bank in terms of mortgage financing. It was our drive that gained for Pag-IBIG international recognition in the form of the UNHabitat Scroll of Honour awards granted to us last year.
Of course, the Rotarians are no strangers to these qualities. What took me some three hundred words to say here, the Rotarians have long ago expressed in a simple formula consisting of four simple questions: is it the truth ? Is it fair to all concerned ? Will it build goodwill and better friendships ? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
As an organization built around the ideals of community service and high ethical standards, the rotary club is a powerful force in our efforts to build a strong and progressive nation.
As a public servant and a Filipino, I humbly appeal to the Rotarians for greater help in strengthening our countrymen’s faith in government.
When I was a student activist, i was among those who shouted “ibagsak” at every opportunity. Today, I stand with you to say, “itayo natin ang dangal ng serbisyo publiko, itayo natin ang integridad ng gobyerno, at itayo natin ang isang matatag na sambayanang pilipino.”
Maraming salamat po.