BAGUIO CITY – Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III recently disclosed some fifty percent of contractual employees in the different agencies, bureaus, government financial institutions and government-owned and controlled corporations will be occupying permanent positions by the start of next year following efforts of the present administration to put an end to rampant contractualization in the bureaucracy.
The labor and employment chief said all the pertinent works have already been completed by the concerned government agencies to facilitate the provision of permanent positions to their contractual workers while the regularization of the remaining balance of contractual workers will be continuing up to next year.
“We might allow contractualization up to a certain extent but the contractual workers to be hired must be given their benefits to be able to enjoy the privileges that go with it.” Secretary Bello stressed.
Latest data show that there are over 1/3 million regular workers in the different government line agencies all over the country while there are more or less 300.000 contractual workers who are hired but are performing the duties and responsibilities given to permanent employees.
Secretary Bello pointed out once all the contractual workers in the national government agencies shall have been regularized as part of a lean and mean bureaucracy, he is optimistic that local governments will be able to work out the regularization of their job order or contractual workers within the next several years.
Relative to the practice of end-of-contract by private employers, the labor chief said businesses already committed to stop the said practice by the end of the year so that their employees will be occupying regular positions and will definitely enjoy the benefits attached to it in the future.
According to him, concerned government agencies are doing their best to comply with the marching orders of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to put an end to the previous practice of end-of-contract among the private sector and contractualization in the government to help workers enjoy the benefits of being regular workers with job security.
He added regional offices of the labor department were given the marching orders to closely monitor the compliance of the private sector in stopping their practice of end-of-contract to be able to help establish stability in the provision of permanent and long-term jobs to the labor sector.
Bello warned erring members of the private sector who refuse to adhere to the mandate of the government in putting an end to the practice of end-of-contract that they will face stiffer penalties ranging from higher fines and the filing of the appropriate charges against them for violation of the pertinent provisions of labor laws.
He called on the private sector to police their own ranks to avoid being penalized or charged for their refusal to regularize their contractual workers and cooperate with the government’s all-out war against end-of-contract.
By Dexter A. See