| Through the years . . . If they only know what we're doing here |
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| NEWS |
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| THE LAST DAYS AT WORK |
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| THE LAST DAYS AT WORK |
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| TORONTO - On these my last days at work after decades of public service, both Philippine and foreign, how about a couple of anecdotes along the way - from budget analysis and budget hearings at the Budget Commission (now the Department of Budget and Management) in Manila to demographic/policy analysis and pre-budget consultations for SCFEA (Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, Parliament of Ontario) at the Ministry of Finance in Toronto. One that I remember was that year when the Philippine government found itself awashed in cash or with enough funds (it was Martial Law and there was tax amnesty and additional revenue) that top bureaucrats asked us which of the agencies we're handling needed additional funds. I submitted the name of one of my agencies (agency is a department or bureau or office assigned to a budget analyst), and surprisingly I was called. I was advised that the meeting will be in one of the conference halls at the Central Bank of the Philippines along Roxas Blvd. [The Commissioner of the Budget at the time was Jaime C. Laya, who was appointed Governor of the Central Bank in the early 80s. He's the son of renowned novelist Juan C. Laya (Diwang Kayumanggi fame).] _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ If they only know what we're doing here In a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas conference hall, we met the budget and fiscal planners including the economists from the Budget Commission. Then around the table from each one of us came the justification for additional funding. I came prepared, but when it was my turn, one of the chief budget analysts said: Victor, he never asked much, and he's not asking much, so . . . APPROVED. One of the economists quipped: If they only know what we're doing here! The truth of the matter was that we did our homework and analysis just like any other office. Indeed, I was not asking much, just 200,000 pesos (a handsome amount in those days) because it was a small agency. This was one of the agencies with name that starts with Presidential Assistant on so and so. Another that I remember was on budget preparation when after a couple of years watching and releasing funds for provincial office buildings, I included in the general appropriations a provision for a provincial office building in Batanes for the agency I was handling. I included the favorite line at the time: Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding (I'm not sure if it's still being used). There was no Congress then and the process was faster. It was approved or it escaped scrutiny and I was ready to release the funds for Batanes along with other releases. The amount was not much. In those days (early 70s) a small office building in Basco could be built for 10,000 pesos, that's what I figured for in the bigger provinces they asked from 20,000 to 30,000 pesos. [Inflation or prices in Batanes didn't jump till the late 80s when the province was awashed in cash (I got no evidence but it could be devolution and/or OFW/DH remittance) In fact, before that in the 70s some consumer goods in Batanes were cheaper than in Manila, the source of the same products. Why? I guess there was not much demand then due to anemic household income.] I released the fund to the agency's central office, but new in government, I was not familiar with the standard procedure on the actual release to programs/projects. Well, I don't have to know, I worked for a central agency and not a line agency. _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Never play politician So there was some bureaucratic delay. Prior to actual release, the central office needed the building plan. I told a colleague about my fund release, and he said: NEVER PLAY POLITICIAN! It so happened that at the time, I was about to resign from my position and leave the country, but prior to that, a visit to Batanes. Then it so happened also that when I was in Basco, the chief of the provincial office heard about of my being just around the corner (at the small store that my aunt owned at the time). So we met and talked about the fund that was really unexpected. He told me that the regional director although surprised was so ecstatic, and that he told him: It must be because of that SOB (Son of Batanes) at the budget office in Manila. The provincial chief then told me that they are preparing the building plan that Manila required prior to fund release. I told him that he could directly send the plan to me and I'll take it to the budget office of the agency. In fact, the budget officer assured me that once the building plan is received, then the release. I left the country soon after and never received the building plan. I heard years later that the office building was built, but I guess not from my release. A new country It's never easy to be uprooted from one country to another, and my experience along the way can never be as interesting as the Philippine experience. From budget analyst in a position of authority to temporary worker was a shocking experience. My first year was not easy, temporary jobs here and there that I almost returned to the Philippines. I wrote the old man and he replied, ok, let us know your final decision. [According to statistics, about a third of all immigrants to Canada either return to their country of origin or move on to a third country, mainly the US.] Then came a temporary assignment preparing tax returns in the Office of the Public Trustee (Ministry of the Attorney General), mainly for eldery people in nursing homes and homes for the aged. Preparing tax returns was not bad albeit temporary, in fact that was more my line of study. Almost like home . . . Working on tax returns, I came upon the tax return of an elderly gentleman from a rural community. In one document attached, the government questioned why his cow was butchered by family and friends without authority from the Public Trustee. Well, I said to myself: Almost like home, except that I'm not that old yet for authority to butcher my own cow. People under the Public Trustee as we know can no longer handle their own finances. Today the office is now called the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee under the Substitute Decisions Act. In that office I was with a group of people, one was a French Canadian from Saskatchewan who just returned from France. He said, when he left Canada five years earlier, jobs were plentiful, and was surprised on his return that there are not many jobs around. The French Canadian was familiar with Philippine geography that he knew Luzon and Mindanao but never heard of Batanes. I stayed in that office till I got a call from a government placement officer who told me that he has a job for me, a 2-week assignment. I told him, I'd rather wait for a longer period of assignment. He said, no, the pay is good (true, compared to others), then he said, why not take it and in 2 weeks I'll give you another assignment. So reluctantly I left my temporary colleagues at tax preparation, but before that the French Canadian invited us to his apartment. The French Canadian was a bookworm that every day every lunch break he goes out and buys a book, mostly used books. So I was not surprised when we saw the walls of his apartment lined with shelves full of books (no open space in the walls). The 2-week assignment was at the then Ministry of Treasury and Economics, now the Ministry of Finance. - Vbyssey, April 2009 _________________________________________________ Victor B. Caballero was Budget Analyst in the Budget Commission (now the Department of Budget and Management) in Manila and Demographic Specialist and Economist in the Ministry of Finance in Toronto. |
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