Most people I know like to work in the government and I can't blame them for desiring. That's why the Civil Service Commission (CSC) will never go out of business (When I took my CSC exams some time ago, I was taken aback by the number of people who also took the exams with me).
A government job is stable, that's what they say, and that's what makes it appealing despite the small salary. Unfortunately, it also carries with it an insidious side effect. Like the quote from The Dark Knight movie: "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", some employees in the government, pushed with enough temptations on the side, eventually become corrupt as the years progress. There are a lot of people who started out in government with high-minded ideals but eventually degenerated into selfish individuals bent on self-preservation and self-gain. From my standpoint, that's a sad but inevitable outcome.
Mama had shared to me about her recent encounter with an ex-childhood friend who was an ex-suitor during her college years (who is slowly but surely turning out to be an ex-friend as well).
The story goes like this. My mother knew that this person is currently sponsoring a scholar. But the sponsorship also came with strings attached: the scholar is a mistress of that person/soon-to-be-ex-friend. When my mother confronted the guy, the guy shrugged off my mother's comment by saying that altruism nowadays isn't for free; it must always come with certain strings.
My mother then retorted that, even in today's times, that shouldn't necessarily be the case. There are people who do help without expecting anything in return, that there are people who sincerely extend assistance without any ulterior motive. This person then asked my mother to name one and my mother, bless her soul, gave my father's name, who has been assisting some scholars from years back.
Then, everything went ugly. After hearing this, the person immediately rebutted, insisting that there must be a motive, a "catch", to what my father was doing. To make matters worse, one of that person's colleague joined the fray, who also insisted that, nowadays, people don't help because they want to but because they need something in return. In the end, they simply couldn't believe that my father would be doing a little piece of philanthropy without any payback, if at all. That thought was alien to them.
As for my mother, she didn't leave the scene without telling that person he's a DOM. And for the past several weeks, she has not replied to any of that person's text messages.
Why this story? Well, that's because both the person and her colleague were products of government. And, like what my mother had said to me, perhaps something in their years of service in the government made them doubt the inherent better qualities of humanity. Perhaps something happened that made them change their mindsets and, in turn, made them perceive other people as having the same mindset as they have.
What's more depressing still is that there are some people, with noticeably weaker internal constitutions, who succumb to corruption after only months in the service.
Novie, a former college classmate of mine, had related the story about "King", a batch mate, who after, several weeks working for an agency, had already learned how to gleefully cheat his RATA (Representation And Travel Allowance, right?). The bad part is that this person doesn't feel any remorse at all but treats these unethical supplements to his income as something that is rightfully his own.
To cap this post, we also recently bade farewell to a colleague in the office. He had to resign because, according to the press release, he would be joining the political campaign of a family relative somewhere in Samar. He was harboring aspirations for public office and the easiest way to get there was to join a campaign. The plan was, if the family relative would win the election, they would be inserted into office and into the system, making it easier to run in the next elections.
Looking back, the plan obviously brooded of nepotism but I guess my former colleague had already thought of the same thing. Still, that guy was a good guy as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, being "good" now doesn't assure you'll be good forever.
A government job is stable, that's what they say, and that's what makes it appealing despite the small salary. Unfortunately, it also carries with it an insidious side effect. Like the quote from The Dark Knight movie: "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", some employees in the government, pushed with enough temptations on the side, eventually become corrupt as the years progress. There are a lot of people who started out in government with high-minded ideals but eventually degenerated into selfish individuals bent on self-preservation and self-gain. From my standpoint, that's a sad but inevitable outcome.
Mama had shared to me about her recent encounter with an ex-childhood friend who was an ex-suitor during her college years (who is slowly but surely turning out to be an ex-friend as well).
The story goes like this. My mother knew that this person is currently sponsoring a scholar. But the sponsorship also came with strings attached: the scholar is a mistress of that person/soon-to-be-ex-friend. When my mother confronted the guy, the guy shrugged off my mother's comment by saying that altruism nowadays isn't for free; it must always come with certain strings.
My mother then retorted that, even in today's times, that shouldn't necessarily be the case. There are people who do help without expecting anything in return, that there are people who sincerely extend assistance without any ulterior motive. This person then asked my mother to name one and my mother, bless her soul, gave my father's name, who has been assisting some scholars from years back.
Then, everything went ugly. After hearing this, the person immediately rebutted, insisting that there must be a motive, a "catch", to what my father was doing. To make matters worse, one of that person's colleague joined the fray, who also insisted that, nowadays, people don't help because they want to but because they need something in return. In the end, they simply couldn't believe that my father would be doing a little piece of philanthropy without any payback, if at all. That thought was alien to them.
As for my mother, she didn't leave the scene without telling that person he's a DOM. And for the past several weeks, she has not replied to any of that person's text messages.
Why this story? Well, that's because both the person and her colleague were products of government. And, like what my mother had said to me, perhaps something in their years of service in the government made them doubt the inherent better qualities of humanity. Perhaps something happened that made them change their mindsets and, in turn, made them perceive other people as having the same mindset as they have.
What's more depressing still is that there are some people, with noticeably weaker internal constitutions, who succumb to corruption after only months in the service.
Novie, a former college classmate of mine, had related the story about "King", a batch mate, who after, several weeks working for an agency, had already learned how to gleefully cheat his RATA (Representation And Travel Allowance, right?). The bad part is that this person doesn't feel any remorse at all but treats these unethical supplements to his income as something that is rightfully his own.
To cap this post, we also recently bade farewell to a colleague in the office. He had to resign because, according to the press release, he would be joining the political campaign of a family relative somewhere in Samar. He was harboring aspirations for public office and the easiest way to get there was to join a campaign. The plan was, if the family relative would win the election, they would be inserted into office and into the system, making it easier to run in the next elections.
Looking back, the plan obviously brooded of nepotism but I guess my former colleague had already thought of the same thing. Still, that guy was a good guy as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, being "good" now doesn't assure you'll be good forever.
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