Ruffy Magbanua Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.– The Constitution, Article XI, Section 1 IN these extraordinary times of living dangerously, conversations that end  with happy notes are rare to come by. And I have had that odd opportunity to share contagious laughter with a group of four millennials who were all employees  in government. In between sips of hot coffee spiced in between with light yet juicy topics of the day to serious discussions that went as far as the Davao bombing, public servants like Jun, Sem, Ton and Mon appeared tickled  pink  upon knowing that government workers like them were the happiest compared with employees with other sectors in the workforce. A recent survey conducted by Jobstreet.com revealed that despite their modest pay, government workers have that feeling of security compared with  their counterparts in the private sector. The 2016 Happiness Index Report showed that civil servants in the country gave their jobs the highest rating of 6.6, using a scale of 0 to 10 in which 10 meant extremely happy; 5, neutral; and 0, extremely unhappy, according to Jobstreet.com. The report was aimed at determining the satisfaction level among employees in their jobs and the factors that influence their happiness. They have that secured feeling, something to hold on to, and to be happy about sans the perks with which the workers in the private sector enjoy. Having been employed with the government for at least 10 years, I share the same indelible feeling. And I am pretty sure Linda, Becky, Mon, Vic, JBA, RET, Gardee, Goyong (now at peace in Heaven), Don Tonyo and those who are still intact would not have much question agreeing with me. Remember the OMA days? We received less, but we worked more. We were a picture of upbeat people in government because we served without much financial tantrums. Ditto as well with some eight productive years in the power industry vis-à-vis Napocor where real people like EDA, Badang, Lourns, Mindo, Zaldz, Maxi,  and the rest of the gang thrived. We lived simple normal lives, heartily contented with we had--no malls,  mobile phones, no PCs, and no Facebook to be hooked with. Conversations were much alive at that time. Our day would usually end up at either in iconic Divisoria, or at one of our favorite watering holes where we had the best of times as one small band of brothers in public service sharing quality time together. We survived, lived comfortably and later, retired (some had already expired, sobs!) happily ever after. Well, some good things would never last indeed. I hate to show up my skirts, but to turn nostalgic is sometimes good for the heart. Those were the days, too, when people in government were not as corrupt as now, when people in Congress deserved to be called “honorables,” when there were less politicians, military and police authorities addicted to drugs and openly absurd about influence, power and money. That was when terrorism and kidnappings were not so disturbing, and as widespread and as deadly as we see these days. But life must go on, they always say. And amid the efforts of the Duterte administration to rid  the bureaucracy of graft and corruption, Filipino public servants had garnered the highest average satisfaction rating of 6.25 in terms of job happiness rating followed by Indonesians (6.16) and Thais (5.74). Singaporeans were found to have the lowest satisfaction (9). Given the optimism in the new dispensation, the satisfaction rating may be due to the security of tenure and due to the fact that this survey was conducted  in July this year. Statistics show that there are at least 1.53 million government workers in the country today, or 3.4 percent of the total labor force. About half of the government personnel or around 700,000 are teachers. As the biggest employer, the government has no reason to fail this time.  Gone are the days when people in government don the highest order of arrogance and corruption. Now crowned with the “happiest” work title, public servants have no reason not to be happy this time. The impending salary increases of teachers, the military and the police, among others loom somewhere in the heart of President Duterte. Carry on, partners for change, blessings may soon come. In the meantime, hearty dispositions deserve happy conversations. E-mail: ruffy44_ph2000@yahoo.com