A Country of employers, less a country of jobseekers!

That is the desired end result of House Bill 5486, authored by Rep. Lorna Silverio (third District, Bulacan) which the House of Representatives recently approved on third and final reading. The said Bill, according to the author seeks to "enhance the human and intellectual capital of the government and its employees and to make sure that every employee will be self-reliant and more productive even after their stints in the government service". It assures that even retiring employees and those retired will extended assistance should they decide to engage in business after their government service. Just hope the bill gets enacted into law in time for the implementation of rationalization plans of national agencies.

Entrepreneurship among government employees is nothing new actually. In every agency or local government unit we witness a prevalence of employees (even teachers) who double as sales agent of insurance companies, housing subdivisions, memorial parks, Time Life, Tupperware, etc., or as reseller of signature women's undies and perfumes, jewelries, longganisa, tapa and other consumables or food items. There also are employees cooperatives, credit unions and even "paluwagans" in most offices. Some highly successful like the ones in Tubungan, Iloilo and the Province of Negros Occidental.

I haven't entirely read the bill, but on surface, it merely legalizes these already existing entrepreneural activities in government offices and might encourage a hoard of other employees to follow suit - in the process, jeopardizing delivery of services to the general public and "crowd out" the private individuals or entities already engaged in similar business dealings.