Image Courtesy of: Senate of the Philippines
By: Junex Doronio
DESPITE YEARS OF SERVICE, job order and contract of service (Jocos) employees have not been given regular status by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) which is now on the hot seat for hiring several undersecretaries and assistant secretaries who have high salaries and other perks and privileges.
“There are too many [contractual employees] at the DSWD up to now. Some of them have been there for 15 years and they’re still contractual. Have pity on them. Maybe we can make them regular employees,” Tulfo told DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian during the hearing on Wednesday, September 20, conducted by the Senate Committee on Finance on the proposed P207 million budget of the DSWD for 2024.
Of the 37,000 DSWD employees, 8,336 are Jocos.
Gatchalian sheepishly answered that the DSWD would need additional funds to regularize contractual workers.
He also claimed that all undersecretaries and assistant secretaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) had been asked to submit their courtesy resignations.
However, he has yet to act on the resignations because they are busy attending budget hearings in Congress.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go has asked why there are so many undersecretaries and assistant secretaries at the DSWD.
The DSWD chief said that the officials will undergo evaluation for the agency’s streamlining of the operations.
Tulfo also noted the agency’s lack of vehicles, especially those delivering pay-out money for Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) beneficiaries.
He said this exposed the employees to constant danger.
Gatchalian said that the department has already submitted numerous requests for plantilla positions to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). (ai/mnm)