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Sunday, March 14, 2004
Editorial: A case of ‘misunderstanding’ and the loss Angeleños suffer
The administrative charges filed before the Civil Service Commission by the Angeles City government against officers and members of the Association of Government Employees for a New and Dynamic Angeles City (AGENDA) has been withdrawn.
Filed sometime in October 2003, the case has spawned irritants between Mayor Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin and AGENDA. The case dragged on for months and bitter words (sometimes unprintable) exchanged between parties.
It is a relief to all affected that the case has been withdrawn by Vice Mayor Ricardo Salamea claiming that it was “a case of misunderstanding” and that “the parties therein have already amicably settled their differences.”
These “differences” have hogged the headlines for days in Sun•Star Pampanga and other newspapers. The case has driven a wedge between career officials and elective ones. The same case has, whether the parties admit it or not, disrupted public service in a city now classified as “ISO certified”. Simply put, the incident forced Angeles City to move a few steps backward despite its being one of those cities in the country considered better than the rest.
That misunderstanding has happened at all could be considered simple negligence on the part of city officials and public servants. It arose from the issue of payment of the GMA bonus which the employees described they deserved.
Now that the misunderstanding has been threshed out, we would like to look back to when the case erupted. AGENDA, at the outset, contended that the city government must pay for the GMA bonus. The city government, however, said it did not have the funds to pay the bonus with. This was, of course, disputed by the workers saying that the city’s failure to pay was more of negligence by city officials and nothing else. Some even contended that while less affluent municipalities managed to pay their workers their GMA bonuses, Angeles City was not able to do this.
As Salamea contended, the case was the product of a misunderstanding. We would like to say it here and now that everyone must leave it at that — a misunderstanding.
Eventually, another form of bonus will be forthcoming. Let us just hope that the “misunderstanding” that disrupted public service in Angeles City will not happen again. The public loses a lot when public officials misunderstand each other.
(March 14, 2004 issue)
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