By Arthur Keefe
Putting the public first
I was most surprised when some of our San Carlos policemen told me that they worked continuous shifts of 24 hours. I could not believe that they could stay alert and efficient for this length of time, even with periodic meal breaks. Either they must find ways of sleeping on the job or they must be like walking zombies by the shift end. The policemen complained that this was true and that it was not a system which had much support among the rank and file.
Perhaps it also explains why a number of police are usually to be found resting in their vehicles under a shady tree by Gaisano San Carlos. They do often look very tired!
This reminded me of a similar problem when I was a member of the Health Board for my city in the UK. We were responsible for a large hospital (really functioning as a care home) for people with severe learning difficulties. The staff worked shifts of 12 hours a day for three consecutive days, with four days off each week.
I questioned this as not being in the interests of the patients, who were looked after by tired (and often fractious by this time) staff. The origins of this practice were lost in the mists of time, but I assumed the staff would welcome a more normal five-day week. On the contrary, when this proposal was put to them, many of them were quite hostile.
It emerged that many of the staff had other jobs and were, as a consequence, receiving very high incomes. In some cases, the husband and wife were both working at the hospital, allowing them to run a full-time business as well. Unlike here, the salaries of nurses together with their onsite accommodation, was perfectly adequate to support a family without the need for additional income.
On that occasion, we stuck to our guns as a Board and the pattern of work shifted to a more normal five-day working week. Later, many of the staff acknowledged that they felt much better and were also better at their work. Whether this 'moonlighting' pattern applies to some of the police here I do not know, but it is clearly a big temptation, especially with lower salaries than abroad.
The big issue for my Board was: Whose interest should come first, the employees or the public who avail of the services? We had no doubt it should be the latter. In the event, many employees also welcomed the change, but not all.
The same question should be asked about this practice in the PNP. Whose interest is the long-shift system serving? Is it the public’s or the organization and its workers’?
Although these reflections are prompted by the example of the PNP, a similar question can be asked about many of the working practices and administrative arrangements of other public services. Is the service user always put at the fore front of thinking and planning?
Some recent improvements I have noticed involving the e-government initiatives, the helpfulness of the advisers at the LTO, and the mobile passport offices have benefitted the public; but these are not universal and there are still instances where the interest of the employees is put before the public.
Am I the only person approaching a City Council department at 11:40AM to be told to come back in the afternoon, as they are now closed (despite the 12:00PM lunch break notice)?
Am I the only person to be told I have to go to Cebu or Iloilo to complete my transaction, as if my time and money are of no consequence?
The response of these public failures of public services (and some private ones such as SMART) to put the interests of the public first, should be met by public resistance and campaigning. The best public services here show how it can be done. The others should be compelled to follow. After all, it is the Ivan and Ivanita's taxes which are paying the public officials' salary.
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