Edmer F. Panesa
Lakas Rep. Marcelino Teodoro of Marikina City underscored yesterday the need to relax the country’s civil service rules to attract private sector professionals who want to give government service a try and at the same time give the bureaucracy better access to the talent it will need.
Teodoro said that while civil service rules on personnel hiring must be respected to maintain meritocracy in government service, exemptions should, however, be given to professionals in the private sector who wish to join government service.
"There are dangers in mechanically applying rules on executive hiring in government. Rules must not be rigid and unbending that they block the flow of talent to the bureaucracy," he said.
The neophyte lawmaker lamented that under the existing civil rules, Microsoft founder Bill Gates — even if he were Filipino -- can never head the Information Technology Division of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) for lack of a college degree.
Likewise, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs can never be accepted even for an entry-level engineering post in the DoTC because he does not have the required college diploma, Teodoro pointed out.
At the same time, strictly following civil service rules would probably bar PLDT chief executive Manuel Pangilinan from joining the government because he does not have a Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) rank, Teodoro said.
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