Honest and apolitical career civil servants

Editorial

Among the amazing things about First World countries Japan and the countries of Western Europe in particular is the virtuousness, in general, of their career civil servants.

These are, in general, competent, honest, prudent, diligent, prudent and apolitical.

They do not belong to any of the perpetually warring political parties of the state. Yes, they may have ideological preferences—most of them are conservative but many are socialist and even communist (especially in Italy and France)—but they normally do not let their political preferences rule the way they carry out their duties.

In parliamentary-system countries, where the ruling government’s ministers are based in parliament, the equivalent of our Congress, the ministers (the cabinet members who are MPs or members of parliament) all have career civil-servant aides and secretaries, in addition to clerks. They do all the paper work, research, assembling of meetings, summarizing of studies for their bosses—the ministers—with the competence of accountants and intellectuals.

Aside from civil servants who serve the ministers who govern the country under the prime minister there are also thousands of civil servants—just as here in the Philippines—assigned to the education and schools departments and bureaus, to social welfare, health, defense, commerce, housing, foreign affairs, justice, the courts, etcetera.

These civil servants—those who are the administrative pillars of the government ministries and the frontline departments—are so solid, steady, competent and patriotic that even when there is no ruling government the state continues to function.

This happens often especially in Europe—and more often in Italy more than in the other countries —when no single party has enough members of parliament to form a government and the party with the most MPs cannot attract one or more parties to form a coalition government with it. So for weeks and even months there is no government—and yet the country does not grind to a halt. Government services continue.

The taxes are collected. The traffic goes smoothly because the policemen continue to man their street corners. Ambassadors go on serving in the countries where they are posted. The retirees’ do not miss receiving their monthly pensions. And government employees, public schoolteachers, government doctors and nurses get paid. Their offices, schools and hospitals continue to get their supplies so that the public is served without interruption.

Career civil servants in Japan and Europe—and by and large also in Singapore, Taiwan. Korea and India—are also markedly apolitical.

None would allow himself to be used by a political party or faction.

Land Registration Authority Administrator Diaz

Few European senior career civil servant would put himself in the situation in which our country’s Land Registration Authority Administrator, Mr. Eulalio Diaz 3rd, now finds himself.

The Land Registration Authority is a very important agency. It is under the Department of Justice.

Its self-description of its mandate states: “The LRA exists for the sole purpose of implementing and protecting the Torrens system of land titling and registration. It is the central repository of all land records involving registered or titled lands.

“It issues decrees of registration pursuant to final judgment of the courts in land registration proceedings and causes the issuance by a registrar of deeds the corresponding certificate of title;

“It is tasked to issue all subsequent or transfer certificates of title which may either be issued judicially or administratively; It keeps the title history or records of transaction involving titled or registered lands; It exercises control over the disposition or alienation of registered lands in accordance with existing government rules and regulations; It provides legal and technical assistance to the courts on land registration cases; It extends assistance to other agencies of the government in the implementation of the agrarian program…”

Lies to provide propaganda against CJ Corona

Very rarely do senior civil servants of the level of the LRA Administrator participate in blatant skullduggery to serve political ends. The senior civil servants who are known to be mendacious experts in fraud to favor politicians are those with the Commission on Elections, some of whom are now facing grave charges.

As the senator-judges of the Corona impeachment trial have found—based on the lies he told at the trial—Administrator Diaz submitted a list of 45 pieces of real estate to the prosecution panel. He knew that many of the properties on this list were not owned by the Chief Justice and Mrs. Corona. The list, he knew, included even property registered as owned by the Corona children and property owned by a namesake of a Corona son-in-law.

The prosecution propaganda mill mendaciously used the list and the authoritative prestige of the Land Registration Authority to paint a portrait of the Chief Justice as an incredibly rich property owner.

Today, out of the 45 properties on the list, the prosecution has admitted that only 21 will form part of the evidence to be used against CJ Corona. But the defense panel maintains that the CJ does not own those 21 properties but only five of them.

The senators berated Administrator Diaz for what he did. Sen. Miriam Santiago was the angriest, and reminded Mr. Diaz that he could face charges. Senators Loren Legarda and Pia Cayetano pointed out Mr. Diaz’s lies and inconsistencies. They got admissions from him that instead of just searching for properties owned by CJ and Mrs. Corona he had his people widen the search to produce a higher number of registered properties. They and other senators concluded or suspected that he did it to help in the anti-Corona propaganda.

It’s a pity that people like Mr. Diaz destroy the efforts of the past and present heads of the Civil Service Commission to form a body of Filipino civil servants like those in Japan and Europe.