Civil servants can be heroes, too–CSC

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MANILA, Philippines—Civil servants who died while performing their duty are heroes, too.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) is now opening nominations for government officials or employees killed in the line of duty or who died while performing their jobs so that they may be recognized as heroes.

The Pamanang Lingkod Bayani seeks to honor public servants whose outstanding dedication to duty came at the price of their lives.

“This is the least we could do to repay honest and hardworking civil servants who had given the ultimate sacrifice for the nation: their own life,” said CSC commissioner Robert Martinez.

The CSC encouraged the public to submit their nominations of civil servants that they deem to be deserving of the recognition.

The agency issued the call in the wake of the massacre of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos who were killed while on a law enforcement operation against two terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, on Jan. 25.

Under the guidelines, civil servants refer to permanent civilian government employees, including all personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP), whether uniformed or not, as all police are considered civilian employees. Only the nonuniformed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are considered civilian employees.

The Pamanang Lingkod Bayani comes not only with the recognition befitting a hero, but financial assistance to the awardee’s family as well.

Martinez said the awardee’s family will receive a plaque of recognition and P100,000 in financial assistance.

In addition, three of the awardee’s heirs will receive either a baccalaureate, master’s or doctoral scholarship grant ranging from 50 percent to full discount on tuition and other school fees.

The beneficiaries may use the scholarships in any of the 111-member institutions of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges.

Recently recognized heroes include Cipriano Pumanes, a chief accountant of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Leilani Naga, an agriculturist of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management under the Department of Agriculture.

In November 2013, Pumanes complied with an order to attend a budget meeting in the midst of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” and went missing since. He was last seen at the DPWH lodging house in Palo, Leyte, which was destroyed by the typhoon. It is believed that his remains were carried out to sea or buried unidentified in the mass graves.

Naga died in a cloud-seeding operation when the plane she was riding crashed in a corn field in Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya.

Government agencies have been urged to submit the names of deserving civilian and nonuniformed government personnel nominees to CSC regional, provincial or field offices one month from the time of death.

More information concerning the program are available at the Honor Awards Program secretariat at (02) 9317993, (02) 9320381,(02) 9320111; or by texting the CSC at 0917-8398272; or through the CSC Honor Awards Program Facebook account, or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].