Getting a job is not as easy as counting one, two, three.

It requires lot of patience and determination, it

will take you heaps of effort, leave a big hole in your pocket, requires long hours of walking and a queue
for job interviews before you can get a decent job, it is a whole lot process.

But in the Philippines, there is a shortcut to that ethical process, where you can be promoted or hired in
a snap, so long as you have your backer (relatives or close friends) inside the organization you are
applying in. And this is known for “Palakasan System”, particularly Nepotism – partiality to family and
Cronyism – partiality to an associate or friend. “Palakasan” is a system where you are allowed to get a
job without hassle—only if you’re a family member, good friends with, or referred by someone you
know from the inside.

Yes, this is going to be a great opportunity for those who are looking for a job without going through the
hustle and bustle. But the question is, is it even to everyone? This unethical system is one of the main
reasons why rich people getting richer and poor getting poorer, because they don’t have the chance to
showcase their ability and alleviate poverty in their life.

These unappropriate practices existed because our principles, we Filipinos value much our family, we
are family oriented. We will do everything for our family even if it means manipulating things. Because
we believe in the common catchphrase “blood is thicker than water.” We also value indebtedness in
gratitude or in tagalong Utang na Loob, “paying” back a person in nonmonetary terms. The good deed
that has been received will be paid back with a good deed as well. While this may seem as harmless and
even thoughtful practice, in business setting it may cause ethical dilemmas such as giving promotion or a
special favour to an undeserving employee.

More often nepotism is interchangeably used with cronyism, these practices are favouritisms granted to
relatives or friends regardless of merits. The word nepotism is from the Latin word “nepo” or
“nepotism” meaning nephew or grandchild. Nepotism gained its name after the church practice in the
middle ages when some Catholic, popes and bishops, who had taken vows of chastity, and therefore
usually had no children of their own, gave their nephews such positions of preference as were often
accorded by fathers to son.

In political perimeter, it is common accusation in politics when the relative of a powerful figure ascends
to similar power seemingly without appropriate qualifications. Here in Jolo, Sulu there were some
politicians who were practicing nepotism, an example of these is the mayor of Takot, Maimbung, Sulu,
he appointed her cousin to be his secretary even if thought there were more qualified and has work
related experienced than her. Another example is in public agency like Home Development Mutual Fund
Zamboanga, it was already mandated for every aspiring government applicant to pass and be qualified
of the Civil Service Exam conducted twice a year, but this friend of mine got the vacant job position
because she has her aunt inside the organization, even if she has not yet CSC eligible and has no
adequate work experienced.

In business premises, James Murdoch was involved in nepotism practices. In the year 2003, James
became a director of BSkyB, later that year he controversially became CEO of the said company, in
which News Corporation owns a controlling minority stake. His appointment sparked accusations of
nepotism, with some commentators and shareholders feeling that the job had not been opened to
outsiders and that Murdoch was too young and inexperienced to run a UK news agency.

Nepotism practices are not only observed in the arena of politics and businesses but even in famous kids
TV show like SpongeBob SquarePants in the episode Culture Shock. In this episode, Squidward states
that nepotism is ‘alive and well’ at the talent show that Mr. Krabs, the owner of The Krusty Krab
Restaurant, had organized in order to make more money for the restaurant. Squidward makes this
statement because the first act that appears at the talent show is Mr. Krab’s own daughter Pearl.

And how are we going to restrain and kill “palakasan system” if even in school premises some carried
out these practices. The Philippines was once regarded as one of the “Tiger” countries in terms of
education in Asia. The trajectory of this prestige starting the early 90’s had rapidly changed as it moved
towards the millennial. Causes such as slow economic growth, inadequate government revenues and
population explosion are the leading factors in this decline. Corruption in the management and distorted
practices worsen the problem. In the Department of Education, the agency that is responsible for the
national access to quality basic education, there are practices that are said to be open secret such as the
presence of “Padrino System” or in layman’s vocabulary is called “Palakasan” wherein government
vacancies are filled according to the concept of nepotism and cronyism. These two acts are rampant
especially in the screening process. Teacher-applicants who are related to the hiring officer either by
blood or by certain political affiliation are favored regardless of some academic criteria over other
regular applicants. By this way, the person who favored a particular applicant can ensure that making
decisions in the future will be much easier because of mutual interest. Also, it is a form of maintaining
power or control over the department. This practice compromises the quality among teachers as well
the entire education system and it gives this impression that these teachers because of their
incompetence use their connection to land jobs.

There are detrimental effects to the total performance of an institution if practice

of Palakasan(nepotism and cronyism) will persist. According to HRhero.com, a company that provides
legal information, training, and compliance tools on state and federal employment law, supervisor
training, and employee management for human resources and other business professionals located in
the United States of America;

“Workers who are the most innovative or productive or those who possess visionary leadership are
inevitably propelled to the top. That’s the image many of us have of the workplace. In reality, the
practice of favoring and promoting relatives or paramours, more commonly known as nepotism, is
widely practiced in companies large and small across the country.

The dangers of nepotism to one’s company shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s not only wise to promote anti-
nepotism policies but also to regularly monitor your staff to ensure that such relationships haven’t
developed.”
That is why in the practice of selection procedures must be properly observed and applicants are seen
according to standard criteria in hiring. Further effects of nepotism and cronyism are diverse in the type
of environment where it occurs but commonly the following are the top adverse effects of such
practices:

1. Disruption of the workforce

One of the chief complaints in a company that operates through nepotism is the patent lack of fairness.
Perceived favoritism of a relative can cause dissatisfaction among workers and lower morale. Employees
may have less incentive to perform their responsibilities diligently and proficiently if they feel that the
path to promotion is undermined by nepotism. Indeed, a company employing such tactics may find its
more valuable employees seeking new employment where their talent is better recognized.

2. Increased risk of lawsuits

Very few laws regulate nepotism at either the state or federal level. In fact, some states have no laws
prohibiting the practice. Nevertheless, the consequences of nepotism may increase your risk of being
sued for discrimination or hostile work environment.

3. Loss of productivity

Nepotism usually leads to an inferior work product. Employees who are rewarded and promoted
because of their relationships with management are likely to be underqualified for the positions they
are expected to fill. That can lead to an erosion of leadership skills at the senior level of the corporation
and also contribute to the demoralization of more deserving candidates.

For the education sector, these circumstances cannot be tolerated because “quality” is the paramount
concern of the Philippines’ Department of Education as it is reflected in the Mission statement of the
Department-To protect and promote the right of every Filipino to quality and culture-based and
complete basic education. That is why it is of the same level of importance that DepEd should come up
with anti-nepotism policies of its own that will address this open secret.

On the part of the Government, nepotism has been closely looked by Civil Service Commission. In fact
former CSC Chairperson Francisco for Region 11 in an article with DAVAOTODAY.COM reiterated
that “nepotism is a form of corruption that weakens morale and productivity in the public sector,
promotes patronage politics, and breeds public distrust on government. Any nepotic act or circumvention
“Any
of the law should be brought to light so that such blatant abuse of power will be stopped.”
nepotic act or circumvention of the law should be brought to light so that
such blatant abuse of power will be stopped,” Duque has added.
The statement was made in relation to Nepotism Rules under Section, Rule XIII of CSC Memorandum
Circular No. 40 of 1998 which is the “Revised Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Personnel
Actions.” Which states that “No appointment in the national, provincial, city or municipal governments
or any branch or instrumentality thereof, including government owned or controlled corporations with
original charters shall be made in favor of relative or the appointing or recommending authority, or of
the chief of the bureau or office or of the person exercising immediate supervision over the
appointee.” But CSC MC No. 40 clarifies that “Unless otherwise provided by law, the word “relative” and
the members of the family referred to are those related within the third degree either of consanguinity or
of affinity,”

However, the nepotism rule exempts the following: persons employed in

a confidential capacity, teachers, physicians and members of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines.

Moreover, according to the memorandum circular, “the nepotism rule

covers all kinds of appointments whether original, promotional, transfer
and reemployment regardless of status including casuals and
contractuals, except consultants.”
But even it is the case for nepotism, here are some of the critics about nepotism or “palakasan system”.
Nepotism can have advantages and disadvantages. For example, hiring relatives is easy and can lead to
greater trust (what we call “swift trust”) if the relations get along and share a common purpose. Where
nepotism becomes problematic is when non-relative employees feel that there is unfair favoritism, and
when relatives are hired over more competent non-relatives. But for some, they consider nepotism
somehow moral, some people being accepting of nepotistic practices – thinking it is perfectly fine to
have preferential treatment of relatives (“well, she is the boss’s daughter…”), and others completely
rejecting of any sort of favouritism, and that for some, people tend to believe that there is favoritism
whenever a relative is hired, regardless of whether they tolerate nepotism or not. Even when a relative
is the most qualified person for the job, co-workers tend to believe that it was their family relationship,
rather than their qualifications, that got the person the job.

What we intend to examine next is the impact that perceptions of nepotism may have on employee
performance, motivation, and decisions to stay with the company.

But even if that’s the case, after all the critics and justifications, still “Palakasan System” has been the
most notorious, corrupt and dirtiest system for decades and centuries in the Philippines. It is common
knowledge, but no one could ever bring it down, nor tear it up and put off this kind of system because
the people practicing this infamous system have gone too far to let go of the fame and wealth they are
experiencing. It is like a dynasty, a tradition that’s chronically eating the government of one’s greed and
thirst for fame or wealth.

If the system will continue to exist, it would be hopeless for less fortunate people who have no place yet
in the organization. All of their hard works will be worthless, and if the youth will expose to this kind of
unethical system moral will vanished, and youth will no longer strive for their future because they would
realized that it’s alright to manipulate things and do some immoral acts like of corruption.
But if we will just look around our surroundings, even on our streets, we’ll see lots of less fortunate
people sleeping at night hungry and waking up in the morning hungry and your heart will crush and melt
because there’s nothing that we can do to help them.

This kind of battle won’t win if we will continue to carry out this immorality.

To the state they should create a master plan to help minimize this kind of problem, which has been
growing in numbers over the years.

And it’s not just those less fortunate, but it also affecting us as regular and common citizens of the
Philippines. We need a job that will help us live.