FORCE OF LAW

Mediocrity means being of average ability. Hence, a mediocre is one whose ability is NOT above average.

The law
1. The 1987 Constitution provides that:

a) As to accountability of public officers:
“Public Office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.” (Sec. 1, ART. XI)

b) As to the national economy and patrimony:

“The goals of the national economy are a more equitable distribution of opportunities, income, and wealth; a sustained increase in the amount of goods and services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people; and an expanding productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially the underprivileged. (Sec. 1, ART. XII)

Acts which circumvent or negate any of the provisions of this Article shall be considered inimical to the national interest and subject to criminal and civil sanctions, as may be provided by law.” (Sec. 22, Ibid.)

c) As to social justice and human rights:
“The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good.” (Sec. 1, ART. XIII)

d) As to appointments in the civil service:
“Appointments in the civil service shall be made only according to merit and fitness to be determined, as far as practicable, and, except to positions which are policy-determining, primarily confidential, or highly technical, by competitive examination.” (Sec. 2 [2], ART. IX-B)
e) As to the investigative jurisdiction of the Commission on Audit (COA):
“No law shall be passed exempting any entity of the Government or its subsidiaries in any guise whatever, or any investment of public funds, from the jurisdiction of the Commission on Audit.” (Sec. 3, ART. IX-D)

Query
2. Can mediocre public officers and employees fully comply with their official duties under the 1987 Constitution?

It is respectfully submitted the answer is NO.

Comments
3. A citizen with average or lower level of ability is an accepted matter of fact. But when that citizen is elected or appointed to a public office upon which public trust and high expectations are naturally reposed, such fact is simply unacceptable. Citizens with mediocre qualifications should, therefore, out of delicadeza or a proper sense of constitutional propriety, DECLINE or REFUSE to be elected or appointed.

4. Government service ought to be reserved for the best qualified, not the merely qualified, among our people. Sadly, however, even the NOT qualified have been allowed, by way of political patronage, to inflict themselves on the Filipino people by masquerading as public servants.

5. Under the law, what cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly. But the real situation is far from ideal. In government practice, the rule appears to be to do what can be done, NOT what should be done. The first is the rule of force. The second is the rule of law. Hence, it is not uncommon to see either direct violation or circumvention of the law.

6. How can Congress give meaningful life to its constitutional mandate to observe the “highest priority” when some of its members were elected not because they are the best qualified, but only because they have the accidental advantage of “name recall” or popularity of name? While the electorate may be accountable for contributory cause of the problem, the candidates themselves are accountable for pure and simple MISREPRESENTATION.

7. Competitive examination for appointment to government service does not mean that those with average abilities who pass – and who enjoy political patronage – should be appointed over the better or best qualified who pass with the highest grades.

8. Does COA audit the central bank or Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), specially where the latter bungles its supervisory and monitoring responsibilities over private banks which suddenly close shop at the expense of hundreds and thousands of depositors? Whatever happened to those who are actually guilty of MISMANAGING the millions or billions of hard-earned money owned by the victimized citizen-depositors? If the government has forgotten, the sovereign Filipino people must not.

Conclusion
9. Let us not fall into the trap of failing or refusing to learn from mistakes. Let us spare our posterity the curse of having to repeat them, and having to suffer what is preventable and rectifiable in the first place.

10. Let us get the best qualified among our citizenry to run the government. They, not the mediocres, are our best chance to build a just and humane society.