BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan is pushing for the institutionalization of the regular conduct of the summit for local government employees to allow proper ventilation and addressing of pressing issues and concerns regarding the welfare of workers in the workplace.
The local chief executive commended the City Council Committee on Ethics, Governmental Affairs and Personnel (EGAP) headed by Councilor Joel Alangsab for initiating the conduct of the first-ever summit for government works that was held at the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) multipurpose hall last December 1, 2017, which was attended by hundreds of city hall employees from the different departments of the local government.
“We need to institutionalize the conduct of the summit for government workers so that we will be able to generate inputs from the employees on how to enhance the delivery of services to our constituents. We should conduct the summit at least twice a year so that we will be able to update ourselves on the issues andconcerns being raised on the way we deliver the needed services to our clients,” Domogan stressed.
The participants were re-oriented on the benefits and incentives of local government employees and the grievance machinery and administrative discipline by City Human Resource Management Officer Augustin Laban III and Assistant City Human Resource Management Officer Edith Dawaten.
Alangsab explained that the conduct of the summit was geared towards soliciting the inputs of the employees on how to further enhance existing programs and policies in relation to the welfare of the workers pursuant to existing civil service rules and regulations and for the concerned committee to be provided with the appropriate legislations that should be enacted to improve the delivery of services to the people.
Further, he added that the summit was also aimed at soliciting the inputs of the workers on how to update the city’s merit and promotion plan that needs to be amended to conform with the prevailing trend of the times and to align the city’s policies with updated civil service rules and regulations.
Among the issues raised by the employees on employee benefits and incentives include the need to grant across-the-board incentives for all government workers, the grant of insurance and hazard pay to workers performing jobs that entail risk, casual employees found to be performing the duties of permanent workers, absence of specialized training for technical personnel considering that trainings are reportedly human resource-related, and the need to allow personnel to undergo training for their related jobs.
Domogan urged the local legislative body to enact the needed legislation that will institutionalize the conduct of the regular summit for government workers to allow the local government to be able to effectively and efficiently address whatever issues and concerns raised by the public and the employees regarding the need to sustain the desired improvements in the delivery of services to the people that will allow the local government to comply with specified standards in public service.
By Dexter A. See