NOTING the predicament of thousands of state workers who have been serving for the longest time without being given permanent status despite meeting qualifications, presidential frontrunner Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. on Thursday said it’s about time the government pays attention to their plight.
Many of these employees have spent the best years of their lives in public service and yet continued to be classified as contractual employees or job-order (JO) workers, he said.
Marcos pointed out that regularization is a major issue not just for the private sector, but it has long been a concern also for those working in the government, “because some of them are only hired through job orders or contracts of service for one reason or another.”
Currently, there are around 600,000 to 700,000 JO workers in the government, even as there are about 180,000 “unfilled” plantilla positions.
“There are 180,000 unfilled plantillas, so let’s fill them up first and we will strive to regularize the status of JO workers at the national and local government levels, given the funds available and what the law allows,” Marcos said, partly in Filipino.
Many government JO workers, especially those with the local government units earn only around P10,000 per month without enjoying the benefits and other perks that come with being on permanent status.
The current minimum wage in Metro Manila is P537 per day, which is still comparatively low and could barely keep a family of five live decently, considering the high cost of living in the National Capital Region.
“Our minimum wage is low enough as it is, and yet there are those receiving lower than that; and what’s sad is that they serve people as State workers,” said Marcos.
He said he can not imagine “how our JO workers survive these days. We will fix that so that they and their families can enjoy some relief,” he added.
Aside from lower salaries, casual and JO workers often do not receive benefits such as Christmas bonuses and 13th month pay that regular or permanent employees get.
Marcos said he intends to propose legislation that state workers who consistently receive “excellent performance evaluations” for at least three consecutive years be given the chance to be hired as permanents.
“If their record at work is good and they have consistent outstanding performance ratings, maybe they can be made regular even without the corresponding eligibility,” said Marcos.