Module 5: CONTEXT OF CIVIL SERVICE IN PUBLIC ENTERPRISES
DEFINITION AND PRINCIPLES OF CIVIL SERVICES
Definition of Civil Service
The civil service is a term used to cover the public servants who are direct employees of the
federal and state governments, other than the police, the armed forces personnel, judicial
personnel and the teachers. Its usage excludes also employees of statutory corporations and
boards (Nwosu, 1977). According to Adebayo (1986), the civil service comprises all servants of
the state, other than those holding political appointments, who are employed in a civil capacity
and whose remuneration is paid out of money voted by the legislature.
Adamolekum (1983), sees the civil service as "the body of permanent officials appointed to
assist the political executive in formulating and implementing governmental policies." He also
sees the second usage of the term as referring to "the ministries and departments within which
specific aspects of government are carried out". Though people often see civil service and public
service as the same thing, they are technically not the same. Public service as a term is broader
in scope than civil service. Hence, it includes not only those who work in the regular
government ministries and departments but also statutory corporations, boards and the armed
forces. Hence, Adamolekun (1983) defines it as the totality of services that are organised under
government authority. It can therefore be said that civil service is narrower in scope and
excludes some government employees who are public servants (Obikeze and Anthony, 2004).
Meaning of Civil Service
The civil service is the administrative structure employed in civil capacity to fulfil government
policies and programmes. This can be viewed in terms of structures i.e. ministries, departments,
etc. or the human occupants of public offices i.e. permanent secretaries, ministers, and higher
administrative staff.
Civil servants are mainly of two categories: lower clerical staff and higher administrative staff.
The higher administrative staff are directly responsible to the political heads of departments.
The lower clerical staff help the administrative staff and work under its direct supervision and
control. The state reaches the citizens through the civil servants who are the well-trained, skilled
and permanent body of professional class of officials, and who have taken government service
as a career (Ekhator, 2003: 254).
The Principles of Civil Service
The civil service is guided by the following principles:
(a) Neutrality
The civil servant must be politically neutral. His job is to serve the government of the day with
full dedication irrespective of what he feels about that particular government. He ought not to
allow personal prejudices to colour his dedication to his duty. He is not expected to be a card-
carrying member of a political party or get involved in partisan politics though he is expected to
vote at election times. The essence of making the civil servant politically neutral is hinged on
the fact that since he does not leave with a change in government, he is not expected to have a
strong attachment to any particular government so as to enable him to give his best to make
government policies succeed irrespective of his personal feelings towards such policies or
government.
(b) Impartiality
Civil servants are paid from tax payers’ money which does not belong to anybody or a group in
particular. They are, therefore, expected to discharge their duties without fear or favor. Since the
constitution emphasizes the equality of all citizens, they are supposed to be treated equally by
civil servants. In rendering service to the public, the civil servant is expected to treat everybody
with a high degree of impartiality. Favoritism is against the principle of the civil service and
should not be encouraged in any guise whatsoever.
(c) Permanence
The civil service is often defined as a permanent body of officials that carry out government
decisions. It is permanent and its life is not tied to the life of any particular government.
Governments come and go but the service remains (Obikeze and Anthony: 2004).
FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS OF CIVIL SERVICE
The Features of Civil Service
The main characteristics of public service include the following:
a. Professionalism - The most significant feature of civil service is that it is a professional class
of officials who are trained and skilled. Like other professional groups of people engaged in a
different profession, the profession of civil servants is to run the administration. It does not
mean that civil service is a single profession like shoe-making or brick laying, rather, it is a sum
total of multi-profession ranging from mail delivering to administering a local government area
council, all engaged in a single aim, i.e. the execution of public policy.
b. Hierarchy - Hierarchy is the second fundamental characteristic found in civil service. By
hierarchy we mean the separation between superior and subordinate offices; i.e. each lower
office is under the control and supervision of a higher one. Then, there exist fixed salaries which
are paid in accordance with the nature of the job and responsibility as well as the social status.
In addition, there are chances of promotion and career advancement based on seniority and
merit. Moreover, there is a right of appeal and statements of grievances from the lower to the
higher authority.
c. Legal basis - The civil service system is always provided with a legal, basis. This may, to a
large extent, be customary and uncodified or it may be in the form of ministerial regulations as
in the United Kingdom, or it may be set forth in considerable detail in, a written constitution for
the political jurisdiction. Generally, it possesses a statutory base either in an elaborate civil
service code or in a collection of civil service laws.
d. Personnel agency - In some countries, there is a provision for a central personnel agency or
agencies that are in charge of maintaining the civil system.
e. Security of tenure or permanence - This means that changes in government do not bring about
changes in public servants. Governments come and go but public servants remain as long as
they perform their work properly. Public service is a career to which public servants can devote
their time and energy until they attain retirement age. It is only in very serious cases of
misbehavior that they can be dismissed or retired.
f. Political neutrality - This means that public servants should not be a member of any political
party. They should not take part in partisan or party politics. They cannot contest elections or
comment publicly on political matters. If they wish to do so, they have to resign their
appointment.
g. Impartiality - The public servants are expected to apply the laws of the land without any fear
or favor to any person or group of persons in the society. Thus, public servants should serve all
members of the public to the very best of their ability. They should act with maximum fairness
toward all members of society. There should be no discrimination of any kind.
h. Meritocracy - Another significant characteristic feature of the public service is that both
recruitment from within and recruitment from without are based on merit. To be recruited into
the service one has to satisfy certain given standards such as educational qualifications, and
good performance in the qualifying examination and interviews. Above all, promotion within
the system is based on seniority, efficiency and experience.
i. Established procedures of work - In a developed civil service system, well-established
procedures are planted for the conduct of common personnel transactions such as recruitment,
training, promotion, demotion, dismissal, performance evaluation, compensation, etc. These
standardised methods provide objectivity in the choice of entrants to the civil service and also
help in offering equal treatment to everybody already in service (Ekhator, 2003: 255-256).
Functions of Civil Service
The functions of the civil service may be discussed under the following main heads. These are
as follows:
Advice: The primary function of the civil service is to advise the political executive. Ministers
depend on the advice of their higher administrative staff who is the reservoir of information and
wisdom regarding the subject matters which they administer.
Programme planning: Broadly speaking, planning is the duty of the political chief executive.
But there is a field where the civil servants also perform the function of planning, and this is the
field of delegated legislation. The legislature makes laws in broad outlines for execution and
implementation of which certain basic rules and regulations are required. The civil servants who
execute those laws determine the specific steps to take in order to bring to fruition a policy or a
law already agreed upon.
Policy formulation: The civil servants advise their political head, the minister, on a wide range
of policy matters. Thus, civil servants play crucial roles in policy formulation.
Drafting bills: Top civil servants aid their political bosses to draft bills or prepare legislative
proposals. This is a usual practice in a parliamentary democracy.
Policy implementation: Once a minister has decided on what to do, it is the responsibility of the
civil servants to carry out such decisions.
Budget preparation: The civil servants prepare the annual financial statements of their respective
ministries. This annual financial statement which is technically called the yearly budget
comprises the income and expenditure of the government. The various financial statements from
the various ministries are integrated into one document known as the budget.
Law making: Besides bill drafting, the civil servants now make minor laws known as delegated
legislation.
Negotiation with outside groups: Civil servants discuss, bargain or negotiate with interest
groups, other governments and international organisations on behalf of their own government.
Quasi-judicial function: In recent times, civil servants protect civil liberties by institutional
administrative inquiries into alleged wrong doings of public officers and where such allegations
are proved right, they recommend disciplinary actions to be taken against the affected officers.
Production: Every official involved in administration needs work standards to enable him to
determine whether his organisation is reasonably living up to mark, whether his subordinate
staff are competent and whether there is a rise or fall in the level of efficiency and output.
Organisation and methods: The primary purpose of which a civil service is set up is to effect
improvement of working methods so as to remove waste and loss of efforts and secure complete
utilisation of available resources.
Republic Act No. 10149 (RA No. 10149), otherwise known as the “GOCC Governance Act of
2011”
Purpose of RA 10149:
The State recognizes the potential of government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs)
as significant tools for economic development. It is thus the policy of the State to actively
exercise its ownership. rights in GOCCs and to promote growth by ensuring that operations are
consistent with national development policies and programs.
Towards this end, the State shall ensure that:
(a) The corporate form of organization through which government carries out activities is
utilized judiciously;
(b) The operations of GOCCs are rationalized and monitored centrally in order that government
assets and resources are used efficiently and the government exposure to all forms of habilities
including subsidies is warranted and incurred through prudent means;
(c) The governance of GOCCs is carried out in a transparent, responsible and accountable
manner and with the utmost degree of professionalism and effectiveness;
(d) A reporting and evaluation system, which will require the periodic disclosure and
examination of the operations and management of the GOCCs, their assets and finances,
revenues and expenditures, is enforced;
(e) The governing boards of every GOCC and its subsidiaries are competent to carry out its
functions, fully accountable to the State as its fiduciary, and acts in the best interest of the State;
(f) Reasonable, justifiable and appropriate remuneration schemes are adopted for the
directors/trustees, officers and employees of GOCCs and their subsidiaries to prevent or deter
the granting of unconscionable and excessive remuneration packages; and
(g) There is a clear separation between the regulatory and proprietary activities of GOCCs, in
order to achieve a level playing field with corporations in the private sector performing similar
commercial activities for the public.
The GOVERNANCE COMMISSION FOR GOCCS (GCG) was created under Republic Act
No. 10149 (RA No. 10149), otherwise known as the “GOCC Governance Act of 2011”, as the
central policy-making and regulatory body mandated to safeguard the State's ownership rights
and ensure that the operations of GOCCs are transparent and responsive to the needs of the
public. Towards this end, it empowered the Governance Commission to:
oversee the selection and nomination of directors/trustees and maintain the quality of
Board Governance;
institutionalize transparency, accountability, financial viability and responsiveness in
corporate performance by monitoring and evaluating GOCCs' performance;
rationalize the Sector through streamlining, reorganization, merger, as well as
recommending to the President of the Philippines the privatization or abolition of a
GOCC; and
establish compensation standards to ensure reasonable and competitive remuneration
schemes that attract and retain the right talent.
The GCG has three (3) appointive members of the Commission, and two (2) ex-
officio members: the DOF Secretary and the DBM Secretary.
Since its first meeting on 20 October 2011, the Governance Commission has introduced major
policy reforms such as the Fit and Proper Rule for Appointive Directors and CEOs of GOCCs,
the Ownership and Operations Manual Governing the GOCC Sector, and the Code of Corporate
Governance for GOCCs.
It established the Performance Evaluation System (PES) that enabled GOCCs to identify their
strategies for development and achieving breakthrough results. The GCG also instituted the
adoption of the Quality Management System (ISO 9001:2015) in GOCCs to link regular
strategy and operations review to process re-engineering.
The Governance Commission also implemented the Performance Evaluation for Directors
(PED) in order to monitor and assess the performance of appointive directors in GOCCs through
peer review, organizational performance, and Board attendance.
The incumbent appointive members of the Commission are Chairperson Atty. Marius P.
Corpus, Commissioner Atty. Brian Keith F. Hosaka, and Commissioner Atty. Geraldine Marie
Berberabe-Martinez. The ex-officio members of the Commission are DOF Secretary Ralph G.
Recto and DBM Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman.
