SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Outsourcing companies that will provide janitorial, ground maintenance, building security and housing security services are expected to absorb hundreds of workers hired through contract of service (COS) scheme by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Support Services Ramon Agregado said the government agency will outsource the services of workers starting February 2019 in order to comply with the national government directive to end contractualization in government service.
Agregado said a huge chunk of these workers maintained by the agency will be absorbed by the outsourcing firms for SBMA.
He said a total of 307 contractual personnel will be covered by the February outsourcing while a total of 655 workers hired through contract of service will be retained possibly until December 31, 2020. That date is the new government deadline for government agencies to terminate hiring under COS or job orders.
A joint resolution passed by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Commission on Audit and the Department of Budget and Management (CSC-COA-DBM JR 1, Series of 2017) states that COS workers are to be terminated by December 31, 2018.
Agregado announced this on December 28 during a general assembly at the SBMA gym here wherein agency officials discussed outsourcing and position reclassification procedures with concerned personnel who were first notified in writing in April.
“This is a requirement of the government—of the DBM,” Agregado said. “We are simply complying with the requirement.”
The agency established in 1992 has been the subject of a House Resolution (1916) of the 17th Congress, which called for a probe on the “rampant contractualization of employment” in the SBMA.
Agregado said the DBM had recommended the outsourcing of security, janitorial and ground maintenance positions as early as September 2013.
“Please bear in mind that we are doing our best in order for you to keep your jobs,” he said on Friday.
Meanwhile, Agregado said the SBMA hopes to hire the remaining 655 qualified personnel for plantilla positions once the agency’s proposed restructuring plan gets approved by the DBM.
He said that in the meantime, the SBMA has begun reclassifying COS positions and salary grades so that these workers may eventually fit into the new organizational structure, assuming they obtain the requisite eligibility. The outsourcing and position reclassification procedures, SBMA officials said, actually serve as safety nets to avert financial ruin for workers affected by the order to end contractualization in government service. SBMA Deputy Administrator for Administration Ruel John Kabigting noted that the SBMA had been called out at the House of Representatives for having some of the most number of contractuals among government agencies.
He added that other free ports like Clark and Bataan had since outsourced their personnel accordingly.
Kabigting recalled that under Joint Circular No. 1 issued on June 15, 2017 by the CSC, COA and DBM, government agencies were allowed to renew contracts of service or job orders only until December 31, 2018.
He said that, while another joint circular dated November 9, 2018, extended the deadline to December 31, 2020, the DBM had directed the SBMA in a September 2013 memorandum to refrain from hiring personnel under contract of service and instead fill up its regular plantilla positions “to have semblance of continuity in service.”
He added that in 2015, the Office of the President required the SBMA to reduce its manpower complement from COS to 3 percent per annum, while the DBM in October 2016 again directed the SBMA to outsource janitorial and security services “as a matter of policy.”
Kabigting said the SBMA Board of Directors approved the outsourcing scheme on April 12, 2018 and the program underwent the processes of notification, bidding and endorsement until the contract was awarded to winning service providers early this month. According to the SBMA Human Resources Management Department, the outsourcing scheme will provide job security in the private sector to the affected workers, as well as holiday pay, 13th month pay, overtime pay, and benefits from Social Security System, Pag-Ibig and PhilHealth that they don’t otherwise enjoy as contract-hired workers of the government.