BEHIND their smile, there is a feeling of fear and resentment. Fear of getting transferred or eventually losing their jobs and resentment over what happened to some of their colleagues.
The “emotional outburst”, triggered by a “show cause order” and “transfer order” affecting two employees—Miriam M. Marcelo, the chief of the personnel division and Rolando R. Castro, a supervisor at the same unit—is just the tip of the iceberg.
“Its all about the hiring and firing happening in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources [DENR].”
They said that, for them, it is the “suffering and social injustice” they had to
deal with every day as they go about their work at the DENR.
Being from an oligarchic family, they fear Lopez who appears to be kind is actually dictator-like most of the time.
Lopez has the tendency to make her own rules, apparently stepping up her game, and changing the game in the DENR, they said.
They clarified that the silent protest, where employees reported for work clad in black, and the one-hour protest the following day during lunch break in front of the DENR Office of the Secretary Building was to express their discontent—and not meant to block Lopez’s confirmation by the bicameral Commission on Appointments.
“We wanted to support our fellow career officials and employees who were unjustly transferred,” one employee told the BusinessMirror.
The rally, the protesters said, was meant “to protect and promote the welfare of government employees” and to call the attention of President Duterte.
Demoralization
“WE are demoralized,” says one employee, who claimed that career service employees are being booted out one by one to accommodate people being brought in by Lopez.
Starting January, Lopez implemented a structural reorganization that resulted in the sacking of many career personnel, and started to bring in people, in the process putting at least 50 career officials and employees of the agency—including bureau directors, assistant directors, provincial environment and natural resource officers (Penros) and community environment and natural resources officers (Cenros), on “floating” status.
Floating status means an employee has no specific position or task and is assigned to an office to working under another employee who occupies his plantilla position.
On Thursday last week the DENR employees called off their plan to picket Lopez’s office after DENR Employees Union officers who held a closed-door meeting with Lopez reported that Lopez is withdrawing her order against Marcelo and Castro.
Later in the afternoon, however, they learned that Lopez changed her mind again—and signed the transfer orders, causing outrage that led to the walkout and emotional outbursts of some employees on Friday, when they demanded the ouster of Undersecretary Philip Camara, one of Lopez’s “consultants”.
Camara quits post
LAST Sunday Lopez said Camara has decided to beg off from his appointment as Penro and accepted the decision of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to reject his appointment.
“He has decided to accept the denial of his application…. He wants to take a break. He has been working six months without pay and three months for a really low pay. So he will be a consultant…still helping me but no longer in operating capacity,” Lopez said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.
Lopez added Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Marlo Mendoza, another member of her trusted team, will take Camara’s job “and I will work with Marlo—together with Galo for field operations. Let’s see where this takes us,” she said.
Biochar, area development
CAMARA was described by one DENR employee as “the biochar guy who is doing the hiring and firing in the DENR” for Lopez.
“We like Ma’am Gina. We support her policies and programs. But we are not incompetent and corrupt, as she keeps on saying as the reason for bringing in her trusted personnel,” one employee who spoke on condition of anonymity told the BusinessMirror.
The DENR is aggressively promoting the use of biochar, particularly in the rehabilitation of abandoned and mined-out areas.
Incidentally, some mining companies that were forced to cough out P2 million per hectare outside their Social Development and Management Program areas are crying foul, accusing Lopez of abuse of authority and graft because of the requirement.
They said there is nothing in the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 or its implementing rules and regulations that require them to spend such huge amount outside their host communities—and specifically to apply or use Camara’s biochar technology for livelihood of affected communities.
“The farmers will benefit from biochar and he will not earn a single centavo from these contracts,” Lopez said.
Employees, however, remained skeptic. Retaining Camara “still smacks of conflict of interest given his association with Biochar”, one employee told the BusinessMirror when sought to comment on the development.
Unjust firing
ONE protester told the BusinessMirror that the issue of unjust “hiring and firing” in the DENR in violation of civil service rules started since Lopez took over.
“Hindi lang naman dalawa ang tinanggal. Marami pa,” a female DENR employee who appeared to be in her 50s said.
They are cautious of exposing themselves as they claimed that Lopez’s consultants are all over the DENR offices, doing loyalty check for the embattled secretary.
“Naghirap kami to earn our civil service eligibility, tapos magpapasok ng kung sinu-sino na hindi naman eligible at hindi dumaan sa proseso. Tama ba naman iyon?” a man who looks the same age and claimed to be a career employee added.
It was learned that Lopez ordered the DENR Human Resource Division and Personnel Department to stop filling vacancies because she is bringing in more outsiders.
This was confirmed by at least two top DENR officials who also refused to be named for fear of reprisal.
As of June, it was learned that Lopez has brought in at least 40 “consultants” receiving salaries ranging from a low of P15,000 to a high of P70,000.
No Malacañang appointment
THESE do not include those who were brought in by Lopez and are now functioning or recognized by Lopez either as DENR undersecretary or assistant secretary, who receive at least P100,000 a month, but with no official appointment coming from Malacañang.
Some, if not most, of those brought in by Lopez, they said, lack civil service eligibility and training for specific tasks that require months of skills training.
They were hired as “contractuals” but occupy sensitive and key positions in the DENR.
A number of them, the protesters complained, are receiving more than what they are supposed to receive according to laws pertaining to government standard salaries for the positions they now keep.
“We are aspiring for promotion, too. The government also spent resources for a lot of training and seminars for us to be qualified to fill in vacant positions, but this is not going to happen,” another disgruntled employee said.
“What we fear the most is that one day, we will get the same order from Osec [referring to the Office of the Secretary] terminating our services. Hindi ko yata makakaya na mawalan ng trabaho,” another employee confided.
Silent no more and still unappeased and disenchanted by Lopez’s assurances last Friday, they said they plan to hold more protests, with a bigger crowd, and more placards expressing their discontent.
2 comments
Whether it is the DENR or any other government agency, we cannot have a Secretary who turns the agency into her personal vassal by making her own rules in defiance of established procedure. Lopez has shown her predilection for arbitrariness in cases like ordering repeat audits if a mine passes the first time, imposing additional mine rehab fees over that prescribed by law, and exempting her family’s quarry over a watershed but not a neighboring quarry. To make it worse, her ‘defense’ consists not of legal precedent, but of nebulous concepts like ‘heart’ and ‘social justice’ and ‘beauty’ and personal pronouncements like ‘I don’t like it.’ For all her passion and love of the environment, she is immature both professionally and legally. Yet this child presumes to impose her will on others with the same logic dictators use, in that she thinks she knows what’s best for us, whether it is supported by facts or not..
Thanks Marry Anne Celestino for your comment. Personally, I am not pro-mining but I believe that done properly, it can help boost our economy. Some mining companies have proven that mining can co-exist with the agriculture and fisheries sector and are in fact helping communities. But some mining companies really need to be more responsible to give back to the communities. My report is about the unjust firings as the headline aptly puts it. I promise to bring in more stories about what is happening around us… including within the agency mandated to manage the country’s natural wealth..