Costs of ‘paying it forward’

The holiday season will be merrier for Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) President Antonio Cailao and executives of PNOC Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) who were recently cleared by the Supreme Court of graft charges filed against them in 2012 by former PNOC-EC director Crismel Verano.

The charges stemmed from the importation by these companies in 2009 of 65,000 metric tons of Indonesian coal for power-generation purposes.

Unfortunately, due to operational problems, the coal was not used as originally intended and instead sold to a third party for a profit of P2.7 million.

Verano, however, claimed the purchase was attended with irregularities and that the resale violated government procurement rules.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales dismissed the complaints for lack of merit. Unfazed by the rebuff, Verano appealed the dismissal to the tribunal.

In a decision rendered last August, but released only recently, the tribunal upheld the Ombudsman’s finding that the company officials did not violate the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in the complained acts.

An appointee of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Cailao was, prior to his appointment to PNOC in 2007, a multi-awarded international banker of financial services giant Citibank.

Expertise

This case reminded me of former National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Arthur Juan who, after serving for only three months, was forced to resign on account of the extortion charges filed against him by the owner of a warehouse that was padlocked by the NFA for mixing animal feeds with imported Thai rice.

Juan was 68 years old at the time of his appointment.

Before that, he was president of San Miguel Foods Inc. from 2005 to 2009, and head of Monterey Foods Corp. from 1999 to 2003.

At that age, he could have opted to retire and enjoy with his loved ones the generous retirement benefits that business conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is known to give its executives.

Instead, he accepted the invitation of presidential assistant for food security Francis Pangilinan to put to good use in the graft-ridden NFA his expertise in product management and distribution.

A highly esteemed business executive, Juan’s appointment was well received by the business community.

He was a perfect fit for an agency that is perceived [and rightly so] by the public as a milking cow of corrupt politicians.

If his accuser were to be believed, Juan was willing to throw down the drain his decades-old reputation of integrity and put his family in shame for the alleged P15 million he demanded for himself, Pangilinan and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas in exchange for re-opening his shuttered warehouse.

Pay forward

Cailao and Juan are two of many other Filipino business executives or professionals who, after making their pile or securing their financial future, want to give back to the country for the blessings they have received.

For people who have worked all their lives or have been engaged in activities that constantly stimulated their intellect, retirement (or complete cessation from work) is a four-letter word.

Although charitable work and engagement in NGO affairs are acceptable avenues for the utilization of time that is no longer tied to corporate or professional obligations, there is something about government service that attracts many “already made” Filipinos to go into it despite its attendant risks.

Obviously, salary is not the motivation for joining the bureaucracy. Except for Congress or some favored government-owned or -controlled corporations, government pay is not something to crow about.

Thus, it is not unusual for erstwhile business executives or professionals who move to the public sector to tap their personal funds to augment their pay to be able to maintain their lifestyle.

Skeptical or cynical attitudes aside, there are a number of Filipinos who, after achieving their financial or professional goals, opt to stay in the country (rather than immigrate elsewhere with their money) and, given the opportunity, serve in the government to pay forward their good fortune.

Sacrifices

It is not easy to transition from the private sector to the government. For the former, profits are its reason for being; for the latter, it’s public service, at least in theory.

Because the people’s money is involved in government activities, there are strict rules to be followed in their utilization or disposition.

In private business, the standards on funds management depend on the stockholders’ objectives.

For government personnel, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act is a mantra that must be scrupulously observed in the performance of their duties and responsibilities.

In the private sector, it’s office procedures and internal rules of discipline that determine what the employees can and cannot do during their employment.

On top of the constraints imposed by law on government service, the biggest disincentive to joining the bureaucracy is the requirement for all employees to submit every year their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

The SALN is a virtual public disclosure of how much a person is worth, cash- and assets-wise, information that business executives or professionals prefer to keep under lock and key for security reasons.

The problem is, any misstatement in the SALN could put the submitting party in serious legal trouble.

And in the event the employee is, for any reason, accused of a crime relating to the performance of his duties and responsibilities, as in the cases of Cailao and Juan, he has to draw from his own resources to pay for his legal defense.

Despite all these disincentives, however, government service remains an option to many of our countrymen who want to pay forward the blessings they have received.

It takes a lot of guts to do that.

For comments, send your e-mail to “[email protected].”