Civil servants or moreso your government employees are expected to do their jobs efficiently and effectively. They should be reliable, fast and accountable of all legal transactions that are left with them. But they too, are humans, and there are times that they will not be able to meet your standards but I tell you, we are trying.
- “Tax namin ang sinasahod niyo” (We pay your wages thru our taxes)– you might go back to the basic principle that we are paid through workers taxes but we, ourselves also pay taxes out of the salary we are making so technically, we are on the same boat. Stop this mindset.
- “Ang tagal ng serbisyo, ito ba ang tamang gobyerno?” (Your services are taking years, is this the right government?)– Your transaction is not the only job we have for the day. We also have backlogs and you are only one of the 105 million people of the Philippines asking for our assistance. We prioritize things (although public welfare is always a priority), but we have this so-called ‘due process’ and ‘protocol’ within the organization, not to mention that we are struggling due to lack of human resource.
- “Waldas lang sila nang pera, wala namang napupuntahan dahil marami parin ang mahirap” (They’re just wasting money for nothing, there are still poor people around)– Believe me, we are burning our midnight candles for numerous planning, assessment and simulation of the projects and activities that we are going to partake everyday. Although we acknowledge that it is one of the challenges to give every Filipino a quality life, it is not our fault that people will remain poor until they die. It’s not like we told them to go and multiple so that we can feed your family. It still boils down to responsible parenthood and family planning.
- “Ay government employee, laki ng sahod” (Wow, government employees have a big amount of a salary)– this is one of the funniest jokes I have ever heard since I entered government service. The amount of money that we receive is not even halfway of the workload and accountability to the Republic of the Philippines. The only things that hold me to stay are summed up to the kind of happiness that my work is giving me and of course some benefits and security of tenure.
- “Ilang taon na sa gobyerno pero parang walang alam” (They work for the government for several years already, but they seem to be foolish)– although I admit that there are some who are just it, you can’t always generalize. I worked for my program for 2 years already but I still can’t memorize the pattern of behavior and the dynamics of adolescents. Simply because the world is evolving and everyone has to adapt to change. That is why I look into several different strategies.
These are just some of the misconceptions that are heartbreaking for every government employee to hear. I guess not all people will understand until one has actually become a civil servant.
Para sa Bayan. (For my country)
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