POLITICAL parasites, incompetents and unproductive workers will have no place in her administration if she wins the presidency, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said as she criticized certain members of the Aquino Cabinet for their alleged incompetence.
But Santiago, who is running under her own political party, the People’s Reform Party, did not name the Cabinet officials.
“I will recruit the best, the most competent, the most experienced, the most honest men and women to help me run my administration,” Santiago said.
Since public officials use their powers to influence the appointment of people to government posts through recommendations, she acknowledged that those who solicit political recommendations are not always the most competent public servants.
In August 2013 Santiago filed the Anti-Political Recommendations Bill, Senate Bill 1198, but it remains pending at the committee level.
The bill, if approved, will penalize the solicitation of political recommendations, hence limiting to agencies the discretion to appoint, promote, assign or transfer designations.
An anti-political recommendations law will cover even the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police, which Santiago said had extensively been eroded by the so-called “padrino system.”
Santiago’s anti-corruption agenda includes the swift passage of the freedom of information bill, the anti-epal bill, the anti-premature-campaigning bill, and the anti-political dynasty bill.
She has also vowed to restore meritocracy in the government service by appointing individuals with solid track records in administrative positions and by pushing for an anti-political recommendations law.
She has also promised to streamline the bureaucracy to eliminate redundant agencies and positions.
“I will start by conducting a swift review of all programs and projects of government. There will be a task force for each major department as soon as I assume office,” Santiago said.
Santiago won the Ramon Magsaysay Award, dubbed as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, as Immigration commissioner in 1988. She was cited for her “bold and moral leadership in cleaning up a graft-ridden government agency.”
