This agency I am working with is also categorized as a Government Financial Institution (GFI). However, it is not an ordinary GOCC or GFI because it is one those so-called constitutionally mandated body. You can read Article 20, Section 12 here if you wish to know where I work.
With the latest brouhaha on excessive salaries and perks of GOCCs and GFIs I have been fielding queries left and right from well-meaning friends and acquaintances on whether I am also one of those "greedy" GOCC employees. My stock answer is that if you get the average of what the employees of the lowest and highest paid GOCCs are getting then ours would be somewhere in the middle.
The usual rationalization for high salaries in GOCCs/GFIs is to make the workplace competitive with other institutions. My stand would be similar to the Inquirer editorial:
Officials of GOCCs like the MWSS say that their pay must be at par with the pay of private corporations so they can attract talented executives. Has that objective been achieved? Most of the officials and trustees/directors appointed to GOCCs are candidates who lost in previous elections, politicians’ protégés and campaign volunteers who do not have the necessary experience and expertise in the business of the institution to which they have been appointed.So the question is: What necessary experience, expertise and talent does anyone need to qualify for a place in the institution where I work?
Up until the beginning of 2010 when I was promoted to another department I used to lecture to school groups who came for institutional visits. Every year we get an average of 500 students from various schools in the Visayas and Mindanao. (Interestingly, I have a current classmate in law school who remembers me lecturing when his group from Silliman University came for a visit. He is now a CPA.)
I always end my lecture by inviting students to work with us. I tell them all they need to bring with them are 3 H's: head, hand, and heart. They must have their heads filled with ideas and knowledge they can contribute to the institution. Next, they must be handy with various skills because they will be wearing several hats. And lastly, and more importantly, they must have the burning desire in their heart to work so that the institution will be able to contribute in nation-building because that's one of the things we need in order to be a progressive country - capable institutions.
What then, did I bring to the institution? Modesty shield down!
I had two years of teaching fisheries, and general science in a government high school. This was followed by several years in the private sector in various avionics and marine electronics job. Later I had 2 years in another government department concerned with environment as writer in its extension and information section. When I transferred to my present work I had enough knowledge of computers. Back then the internet was still a foreign concept in the country. But I was already accessing information through the Fidonet courtesy of some friends who were internet pioneers in Cebu.
My programs which I made to make my work easier are still used in our property management system and payroll claims. (These are in Clipper. I never got to finish converting them to VB.Net because I ran into problem with the SQL Server Express backend. I got a working version in VFoxPro but which I discarded. My dogfooding days ended when I was transferred to my present unit.)
After a little while in the institution I became a founding member and officer of the Association of Government Information Officers - Region 7 (AGIO7). I was also an original officer of the Government Organization for Information Technology, R7 (GO-IT7).
Then in order to be considered for promotion I finished my Masters in Management from the UP where I was a Civil Service scholar during my final year.
Now keep in mind that I am only an average guy in our institution. So do I and my fellow employees earn our keeps? You tell us!
