Siegfred Mison launches book on servant leadership
What is true government leadership? What does it take for a Filipino to be a good public servant, whether his role is minor or big?
Former Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Siegfred B. Mison answers these questions in his book 7 Attributes
of a Servant Leader in Public Service, drawing from his experience in the army and the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Atty. Mison, who was recently appointed SVP for legal/general counsel and corporate communications of Philippine Airlines (PAL), is a West Point graduate and earned his law degree from Ateneo Law School, and his master’s at USC in California. Licensed to practice law here and abroad, Mison is a law school professor and has authored various law textbooks. He has also provided free legal counseling to indigent clients with the IBP National Committee on Legal Aid and UE Legal Aid Clinic.
In his first year as commissioner, the Bureau of Immigration achieved what was then an impossible task, which was an increase in the bureau’s revenue collection by P3 billion, something never achieved in the bureau’s 75-year history. Graft and corruption were curbed, human trafficking curtailed, thousands of undesirable aliens were given their due in court while foreign fugitives were departed to their respective countries.
Mison says, “The book lists the attributes which I and some of my colleagues in the Bureau of Immigration believe are essential and necessary for any person who is in or plans to join government service.”
Anecdotal in style, the book is interspersed with quotations from leaders and biblical passages, along with photos of personnel and events from his BI tenure as his way of paying tribute to people who have made positive changes in the agency.
“I was inspired to write the book as my own little way of helping our country,” hesays. “We really have to do something about the way government is run. Perception about government service is so negative that the good guys stay away from it. So, I wrote the book to relate my own experiences in the army and in the bureau, memorialize what we did as a team, and inspire the reader to help government in their own little way.”
In 2011, when Mison rejoined government service after a 12- year army career and another 12 years in private law practice, his law partner and good friend Alex Lacson asked him to write a book about little things any government employee can do for our country. It was supposed to be an addition to his successful 12 Little Things series.
“Due to time constraints, I never had the chance to sit down and gather my thoughts to write,” says Mison. “When I left the Bureau of Immigration after 1,699 days of service, I took the opportunity of my unscheduled break to compile my thoughts regarding public service. I asked a few good men (and women) in the bureau as well as our stakeholders to contribute some articles narrating their respective personal experiences that will exemplify some of the attributes that we think every public servant must have.” “I dream that the day will come, sooner hopefully, that when any Filipino is asked where he works, he can answer with pride, ‘I work for government.’ I dream that the day will come, sooner hopefully, that fresh graduates, when asked where they want to pursue their career, they will answer that they prefer to work in public service, not for anything less but for love of country. My dream may be far- fetched but is certainly not impossible. Martin Luther King dreamed of equality and freedom from racial discrimination in a period when this seemed impossible. John F. Kennedy dreamed of sending a man to the moon despite the supposed technological impossibilities at that time.” Mison says the book is a collective effort of well-meaning and hardworking public servants and responsible Filipinos who he encountered while working in the bureau. “Our goal is to memorialize how we did things in the BI from June 2011 to January 2016 with the hope of inspiring those in government service, past, present, and future, that there is hope in the Filipino, nothing is impossible with God, and our Philippines can be great again.” Mison’s 7 Attributes of a Servant Leader in Public Service will be launched on May 16 at Fully Booked at Bonifacio High Street in BGC, from 3 to 6 p.m.