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By Tuesday last week, Samak, the Thai prime minister, was out. He was out not because the protest against him grew. He was out not because the military suddenly turned on him. He was out not because the King asked him to go. He was out because he had cooked for a TV audience.
Amid the drollness of it, there?s much that?s perfectly serious and important this event has to say to us. Not the least of it is that, completely unlike us today, the Thais take their public service perfectly seriously.
Our Constitution does not openly ban public officials from moonlighting, but as far as the public officials of old were concerned, notably the senators, it didn?t have to. It was common sense. Or it was one of those laws written in the heart. The position of public official was a sacred one. It was not a job in the ordinary sense of the term. Neither Recto nor Laurel nor Diokno nor Tañada nor even Marcos thought to debase it by selling insurance ? or products ? on the side.
I still remember the interview Noli de Castro did of GMA many years ago. I don?t recall now whether he was still senator then or vice president already. Either way it looked bizarre, a senator/vice president dropping his hat and taking on the hat of a TV show host to interview his boss. You think Samak abandoning his hat as prime minister and putting on the chef?s one is crazy? At least Samak was just cooking food; you?re not so sure what De Castro was cooking.
Maybe it?s time we did put the ban on public officials moonlighting on paper. But far more importantly, Samak?s resignation even amid the ludicrous circumstances reminds us of what public service is, and how it is practiced in other parts of the world. Public service is not an exemption, particularly from law; it is a subscription, above all, to law. It brings with it the demand to observe the highest standards of ethical behavior and not the lowest standards of legal passable-ness. Public officials are supposed to resign as a matter of course when they compromise their office; Samak?s own ouster, whatever its context, reaffirms these principles.
That?s where we see the truly horrendous extent to which we have debased, cheapened and pretty much spat on the concept of public service today. Some days after Samak resigned, our own Supreme Court ruled on the CA row and punished several people involved in it. Completely mind-bogglingly, the Sabio brothers walked away from it with only a rap on their knuckles. Judge Jose Sabio was suspended for only two months while PCGG head Camilo Sabio, who called up his brother to sell GSIS? case, could only face disbarment. Camilo?s initial reaction to what he would do if he were disbarred was classic: Not quit of course.
Samak?s resignation might have been a little outré. But in the end, guess which country by the refusal of its officials to do so for less laughable crimes presents itself as far more bizarre, insane and pathetic. ? Conrado de Quiros, Inquirer
