Good intentions gone awry

At Issue: The intent of early retirement accompanied by the 30 percent bonus.

Our View: It’s a good law that was allowed to go unmonitored by bureaucrats.

When the law intended to encourage early retirement was approved, it was accompanied by a perk, employee is given a 30 percent bonus for opting to leave government after 20 years of service.

The primary goal is to allow lower echelon employees to move up the ladder as old hands retire from government service. The program was successful for several years until bureaucrats, in questionable collaboration with subordinates, concoct a scheme where one retires then rehired under a special services contract.

This callosity is a drain not only of precious government resources, but a denial of upward mobility for those languishing with hopelessness to move up the ladder. It also encourages excess baggage under the public payroll. Out the window goes all the expenses that it took a certain government agency to prepare its lower echelon employees. Worse of all, it is double dipping that runs contrary to the basic intent of the law.

We know that this politically convenient scheme has benefited the “we few” privileged employees who are fully connected. If such scheme is contrary to law, then both former and current bureaucrats who have allowed such violation of law must be made to discontinue such practice forthwith, and penalties imposed for knowingly violating the intent of such law. Retirees who benefited from this scheme should also be asked to repay his or her loot.

Then there’s the other convenient scheme of collecting retirement contributions: Supervisor allows subordinates to resign in order to collect retirement contributions who are subsequently rehired after several months.
Imagine if this questionable collaboration is allowed to spread into every government agency. It would have bankrupted the Northern Marianas Retirement Fund at the expense of fully retired members.

These schemes merit revisiting if only to refine policy matters that was inadvertently allowed to benefit the politically connected.
It must be done forthwith to guard against running the Fund into bankruptcy or insolvency. It’s about time that we begin putting lasting policies to aid both lower echelon employees while guarding the welfare of retirees. Si Yuus Maase`!