CHAPTER 4

PROFILING THE PHILIPPINE

ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM
EFFIE F. ARANAS
REPORTER

JHONNY D. DARIAGAN
Professor
(Continuation)

• CIVIL SERVICE CAREER

> Tenure and Civil Service Category
> System of Promotion
> Civil Servants Movement and Retirement

• CIVIL SERVICE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

> Public opinion on Bureaucracy
> Nongovernmental Organizations
> Citizens’ Participation
CIVIL SERVICE CAREER
The present state of bureaucratic structure is the American influence. The admission to
the civil service force in the Philippines, like most democratic countries, is premised on merits
and fitness that the way to enter the organization is through a competitive examination. it is
reported that more than half a million applicants each year take the competitive civil
service examination, both for professional and sub-professional eligibility. The examination
maybe taken either the traditional way (testing center) or through a computer –assisted test
system that allows for instantaneous results.

According to the Civil Service Commission policies: skilled applicants applying for skill
position have to take trade of test with the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority TESDA. When an applicant passes the examination, he may applied to his
preferred offices or government agency where additional requirements may be imposed
by the hiring office. The decision to hire an applicant belongs to the office even when the
CSC may disapprove an applicant for not complying with the rules, regulations or standards.
There are exemptions, however, from taking the civil service examination like those positions
that are policy determining (political appointees), highly technical (scientists or professors)
and primary confidential (secretaries or drivers). These are positions are not required to go
through or pass the competitive examination system.
TENURE AND CIVIL SERVICE CATEGORY

In the Philippine civil service theory and practice, a civil servant shall enjoy tenurial
security until retirement (65 years of age), unless one is separated for just cause. The law says
“ no officers or employees of the civil service shall be removed or suspended except for
cause provided by law”. The administrative code provides the details of removal and
suspension, and the Constitution guarantees payment upon separation of some officers in
the civil service. The President is prohibited to remove those whose tenure is guaranteed by
law or by constitution.

However, career civil service employees separated from the service not for cause but as
a result of reorganization shall be entitled to appropriate separation pay and to retirement
and other benefits accruing to them under the laws of general application in force at the
time of their separation.

However, certain officials and employees who, because of the nature of their jobs, have
tenure that is coterminous with the appointing authority or subject to his pleasure which is
limited to the duration of a particular service or based on how the purpose of employment is
made.
 There are three levels of positions in the civil service according to the
Administrative Code 1987
> First level position consists of those in the manual, clerical, custodial or trade and
crafts groups with salary grades between 1 and 10.
> Second level includes those in the technical and professional groups or those who
have finished college degrees with certain specialization enjoying salary grades
between 11 and 24.
> Third group are the executive class, form of the government’s managerial corps
and occupies salary grades between 25 and 33.

The president, being the highest officer in the civil bureaucracy, enjoy the top salary
grade 33, while a labourer is assigned only the grade of 1.

The classification of government position and salary schedule are executed under the
DBM. The Department shall update the positions and salary of all positions in the
government in accordance with the Index of Occupational Services, Positions, Titles and
Salary Grade of the Compensation abd Position and Classification System.
SYSTEM OF PROMOTION
In order to boost the morale of the civil servants, the congress maintains salary
standardization among the government employees. Art. IX, Sec. 5 declares that “ Congress
shall provide for the standardization of compensation of government officials and
employees, including those in the government – owned or controlled corporations with
original charters, taken into account the nature of responsibilities pertaining to, and
qualifications required for, their positions.”

The promotion system in the civil service requires high qualifications and better
performance records. In the past, seniority was all too important an element for promotion
but later the CSC gave extra premium on increasing performance, thus allowing for what is
known as “deep selection” or the vertical movement of the people to higher notch not
necessarily on the basis of seniority but on better working performance criteria. A lateral
system of entrance is allowed even for higher position, particularly second level position,
where the pool of the selection is the entire bureaucracy. The choice for first level promotion
usually revolved only among personnel of particular office. Career executive service officers
like department secretary, undersecretary, bureau, directors, assistant bureau directors,
regional directors, among others are appointed to the generic rank and may be assigned
anywhere for as long as there is no diminution of rank or salary.
CIVIL SERVANTS MOVEMENT AND RETIREMENT
There are arrays of programs for human resource development of the civil service
employees in the Philippines like subsidized education for scholar (graduate schools),
continuing training and workshops for more specialized needs like computer literacy, the
need for the familiarity of technological innovations in telecommunications or the transfer of
the technological skills, service orientations; and political civil values formation. Just like private
sector, employees in the civil service also enjoy job enrichment, counselling, and other Human
Resource Development interventions for additional skill acquisition.

There is also the GSIS from the civil service employees that is different from the SSS in the
private sector, which is mandatory funding resource toward retirement and pension payment.
In 1994, law passed that allowed the portability (conversion/transfer) of social security benefits
from the private sector to the public sector and vice versa.

There are number of retirement laws applicable to different set of employees. Review of
present laws and reforms are underways to ensure equality for public personnel retirees in the
future. Government employees get pension of up to 20% o$r a maximum of 12,000/$300 of
their highest salary received while they employed. These benefits, shall only be commenced
and be enjoyed by those who have worked in the organization for atleast 20 years in service.
CIVIL SERVICE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Civil service refers to the whole scope of bureaucracy with the employees who are
charges with administrative functions to execute the delivery of public goods and services
to the people. While public opinion, refers to the aggregate views, positions or the
preference of the significant population on any given issue in the society that directly or
indirectly affects their lives. It is the outcome of collective discussion and agreement and
the arrival at a decision from the significant population. Public opinion on civil service in the
Philippines reveals the general dissatisfaction of the people with regard to the
administration of its functions.
PUBLIC OPINION ON BUREAUCRACY

Public opinion is the composite of individual views or preferences being communicated

to the political relevant leaders of government. Though, it is too impossible in a democracy
that people with varying interest, beliefs, and expectations ,would reach a unanimous
opinion, those majority views or preferences nonetheless would generally be acceptable.

Public opinion polls measure public satisfaction or approval of government policies and
government officials. Public opinion result generally influence or affect the conduct and
direction od government plans and programs. Public opinion polls in the Philippine
bureaucracy result in the dissatisfaction of the people towards the organization because ofn
its views about red tape, corruption, and inefficiency.
NONGOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION
Nongovernment organization (NGOs) came in droves during the Aquino presidency as a call
for effective governance towards nation-building. The Local Government Code of 1991 served as
general impetus for the role of NGOs towards development. Primarily, NGOs were charitable
institution serving as the arms of local church parishes to aid the poor assumed a more important
position in the Philippine governance tradition, thereby elevating the importance of these
organizations for political, economic, and social purposes. Following People Power in 1986, NGOs
became vehicles for advocacy works that revolved around specific concerns of human rights ,
education, women, the disabled, and provided training for the unskilled, among others. Enabling
laws like RA 7160 established sectoral presentation in legislative development councils or
policymaking bodies in the local units, and the Code also engineered the birth of people’s
organizations and voluntary movements.
The role of NGOs, which are initially committed to political change as guided by the Code,
are in fact notable. They subsequently formed coalition that enabled them to intervene in many
government affairs like housing, agrarian reform, urban poor, education, and others. To a great
extent, they formed part of the interest grouped that lobbied for some legislation in these areas,
and attained considerable success. Today, NGOs coalesced with Coalition of Development-
NGOs (CODE-NGOs), the largest NGOs coalition group. The CODE-NGO started ton formulate
vision statement and defined their relations with the government, other sectors of the society,
including the International NGOs are now cooperating actively with INGOs to achieve their
noble ends iof serving the community.
CITIZENS’ PARTICIPATION

The 1987 Constitution in Article VI (Legislative) provided a new mechanism for people’s
initiatives and referendum, enabling citizens’ participation in the legislative process. Under the
1987 Constitution, the power to make, propose, or amend laws is also extended for the
people, in whom sovereignty resides, through the mechanisms of initiative and referendum. In
this legislative system, the people can directly propose and enact laws, and approve or reject
any act or law part thereof. This may result from the acts of Congress or local representative
councils following a petition duly signed by at least 10% of the total registered voters. By
initiative, we mean that the authority is reserved to the people to direct participation of the
electorate in lawmaking process either in national or local level. By referendum, it means the
process or a local legislative body for their approval or rejection.

Among the features that aims to ehance citizens’ participation include the passage of
Absentee Voting in Act 2004, the Dual Citizenship Act, the party-list representation system in
the House of Representatives, the creation of development councils in the local governments,
the recognition of the role of people’s organization, voluntary group and civil society,
including NGOs.
Another feature is the independent Commission of Human Rights (CHR), first time in the
Philippine Constitution, which may investigate, on its own initiative, cases or complaints
involving violation of human rights or an accused. However, as a new system, it suffers from
the transitional problem of all pioneering organizations. The absence of a clear model to
work from, and the needs to orient and educate the populace about human rights, are
viewed as the causes of ignorance. In fact, the CHR has no prosecutory powers to decide
on cases of human rights violation, it has only investigative powers or functions which when
compared to other agencies, CHR is nothing but a toothless piranha.