President Aquino confers Quezon Service Cross on
DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo (posthumous)
President
Benigno S. Aquino III conferred the Quezon Service Cross Award on the late
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo in ceremonies held in
Malacañang on Monday.
In his
speech, President Aquino said the Quezon Service Cross Award was a fitting
tribute to Robredo whom he said embodied the ideal traits of a good leader and
public servant: honesty, dedication and humility.
“Kinakatawan ni Jesse ang mga katangian ng
isang tunay na lingkod-bayan: matapat, masigasig, at mapagkumbaba. Batid niyang
bilang kawani ng gobyerno, ang una at ang huli niyang tungkulin ay ang
pagsilbihan ang bandila, at iangat ang kanyang kapwa—anumang pansariling sakripisyo
ang kaakibat nito. Alam ito ng kanyang pamilya’t malalapit na kaibigan, alam
ito ng kanyang mga kababayang Nagueño, at alam ito ng kanyang mga
nakasalamuhang Pilipino ---nasa puso ni Jesse ang pagseserbisyo,” the President
said.
“Sa araw
pong ito, nakamit ni Jesse Robredo ang pinakamataas na parangal sa bansa, sa
paglilingkod na nakasandig sa pagpapakumbaba. Kanyang pinatunayan na hindi
laging naipapamalas ang kadakilaan sa lakas ng puwersa, sa katapangan, o sa
kagitingan. Isang simpleng taong kumakalinga sa simpleng tao ---dito po natin
maaalala ang pangalang Jesse Manalastas Robredo,” he added.
In
response, Robredo’s widow Leni, who accepted the award in behalf of their
family, expressed her deepest appreciation for the Quezon Service Cross Award which,
she said, is truly a “huge honor.”
“It is
such a privilege for us to accept the highest national recognition of
outstanding civilian service that the republic can give. To be awarded this
award which was proposed by President Manuel Roxas in honor of our illustrious
President Manuel L. Quezon, and to be mentioned alongside awardees Carlos P.
Romulo, Emilio Aguinaldo, Ramon Magsaysay, and Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. is truly
a huge honor,” Robredo said.
“With the
conferment of the Quezon Service Cross Award, we can only hope that there will
be more people like him who will serve rather than criticize, collaborate
rather than divide, build up rather than tear down, and engage in order to
understand,” she added.
The
Quezon Service Cross Award is the highest recognition the State can bestow on
its citizens. It was created through a proposal by former President Manuel
Roxas in honor of President Manuel L. Quezon to serve as the highest honor of
the Republic.
With the
award, Robredo joins former president of the United Nation General Assembly
Carlos P. Romulo, former presidents Emilio Aguinaldo and Ramon Magsaysay, and
the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr., as the fifth person to receive the
prestigious award. PND (rck)
Abad says implementation of Performance-Based
Bonus system to reform ‘bureaucratic culture’
The
government is working towards reaching a “truly genuine meritocracy system” for
government employees in order to boost moral and improve the overall delivery
of goods and services to the Filipino people, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad
said on Monday.
In a
press briefing in Malacañang, Abad said the implementation of the
“ground-breaking incentive system” called the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB)
system will “reshape bureaucratic culture” with a “culture of excellence in the
bureaucracy.”
The
Performance-Based Bonus is a strictly merit-based incentive system given to
deserving government employees for exemplary work in government service. Unlike
other bonuses, an employee receives the Performance-Based Bonus based on how
well he serves the public with the ultimate objective of delivering public
goods and services among our people.
“Reshaping the bureaucratic culture through
Performance-Based Bonus will be contentious at first because it is new and it
has never been done before but we hope that eventually, it will ease itself
into general acceptance among those in the bureaucracy,” Abad said.
“When you
institute such a culture of excellence in the bureaucracy and make it a regular
way of doing public service, government employees will then make a habit of
turning out exemplary work day after day,” he added.
“This in
turn reinforces the new culture of service in every agency, ultimately
establishing a bureaucracy that is effective, efficient and decidedly
service-oriented,” Abad said.
He noted
that with the new incentive system, a level-playing field where employee
performance will be the basis of the distribution of incentives will be
implemented.
“When the
government is able to provide better services and goods to all Filipinos, that
means we are making the most of every peso spent by the government. At the very
end, this means that none of your taxes are wasted from bureaucratic
inefficiencies and performance gaps,” Abad said.
“What we
also want to communicate and emphasize to all government employees is that we
are finally moving towards a genuine meritocracy in government. For the first
time, we are instituting an accountable way of rewarding our government workers
where personal biases or elbow grease won’t buy any favors,” he said. PND (rck)
President Aquino creates special teams to probe
human rights violations
President
Benigno S. Aquino III has ordered the creation of special teams to investigate
human rights abuses by state and non-state forces and ensure a focused probe
and speedy resolution of all unsolved and new cases, Executive Secretary
Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. said on Monday.
Ochoa
said the special teams would form part of the inter-agency committee (IAC),
which the President established under Administrative Order (AO) No. 35 he
signed on November 22, that will exclusively handle cases of extra-legal
killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other forms of human rights
violations.
“This
presidential directive reinforces the Aquino administration’s resolve to uphold
and protect the rights of the people,” Ochoa said. “We believe that the
creation of this high-level committee will be a more effective mechanism in
handling and monitoring cases of human rights violations,” Ochoa explained.
According
to Ochoa, AO 35 takes effect immediately and replaces AO No. 211 issued in 2007
that created the Task Force Against Political Violence. The presidential
directive directs the task force to turn over all documents, data, reports,
supplies, resources and its remaining budget to the IAC.
“The
President envisions the administrative order to harmonize and standardize the
government’s policies and action plan for resolving human rights abuses. This
way we can have a focused investigation and speedy resolution of all the
cases,” Ochoa added.
One of
the first tasks of the IAC is to organize special teams and a technical working
group to carry out the immediate inventory of all alleged human rights
violations committed by state and non-state forces; monitor the development of
cases which are pending in courts or under investigation, and conduct an
investigation into unsolved and new cases, as well as prosecute the
perpetrators.
Under AO
35, the secretary of the Department of Justice (DoJ) serves as chairperson of
the IAC, which members include the head of the Presidential Human Rights
Committee (PHRC), the secretaries of the Departments of the Interior and Local
Government (DILG) and the National Defense (DND), the presidential advisers of
the Peace Process (OPAPP) and Political Affairs (OPAPA), chief-of-staff of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National police chief and
the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director.
The
chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Ombudsman sit as
observers and resource persons in the IAC.
The IAC
is required to submit to the President every six months a progress report, a
detailed inventory of pending human rights abuse cases, and accomplishment and
recommendations, among others.
The
President has asked all other government agencies and local government units to
give their full support and cooperation to the IAC to make sure that the AO
35’s objectives and the committee’s mandate are achieved.
The
initial budget requirement of the committee will be taken from the current
appropriation of the agencies comprising the IAC and subsequent funding will be
incorporated in their respective regular budgets.
