The House Committee on Civil Service and Professional Regularization on Tuesday, Nov. 15, approved the consolidation of 10 bills that will enable the regularization and grant of civil service eligibility to casual and contractual government workers that have been in service for three to five years.
During deliberations on the House bills and resolution, Committee Chair and Bohol 3rd District Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor moved that the measures be approved “in principle” and consolidate and incorporate all approved recommendations to later come up with a substitute bill.
Lawmakers questioned why non-regular government employees are not provided the same benefits as barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials who become civil service eligible after rendering service for several years.
“Ano pagkakaiba ng mga (What’s the difference of the) barangay officials sa aming sinusulong na batas (in the law we’re pushing for)?,” Quezon City 6th District Rep. Ma. Victoria Co-Pilar, who filed House Bill (HB) No. 3623, asked.
“Klaro rin service ang pinag-uusapan. Klaro pa rin na dapat ang (It’s clear we are talking about service. It is also clear that the) criteria ay iyong kanilang patuloy na pagseserbisyo (is their continued service),” the lawmaker furthered.
Jane Abella of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) answered that the exemption given to barangay and SK officials is covered under Republic Act (RA) 7160, which Co-Pilar said does not differ from their proposed measures because the benefits could not be granted unless there was “satisfactory performance” the non-regular government employees.
Abella explained that the CSC has been holding consultative dialogues with their regional offices since the previous Duterte administration.
Kabayan Party-list Rep. Ron Salo, who authored HB 521, explained that the intended beneficiaries of the measure “should be able to meet the performance evaluation standards formulated by the CSC itself.”
“Ang binibigyan po natin (What we’re giving) aim dito magkaroon ng (here is to provide an) avenue kasi sa kasalukuyan wala nga po silang (because at present, they don’t have an (avenue para magkaroon sila ng (for them to have) security of tenure,” he said.
“And we are trying to correct this particular injustice. We are giving the government what we call the moral ascendancy. Kasi tayo ‘yung nanawagan nang nanawagan sa (Because we keep on calling on the) private sector. Sinasabi natin iregularize sila (We are telling them to regularize them ). Let us put an end to endo (end of contractualization) and yet here we are in the government, we are just closing our eyes to this reality happening to 660,000 job orders, contractual government employees,” Salo lamented.
Bagong Henerasyon (BH) Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera, who filed HB 1387, seconded her colleague’s remark about 'endo', saying that the government has become the “number one biggest violator of contractualization.”
READ: House bill to make long-time gov’t casual workers civil service eligible
“If we want to end 'endo' sa (in the) private sector, we have to lead example in government,” she added.
The regularization of non-regular employees of the government is supported by several proposed measures—HBs 204 (ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro), 521 (Salo), 1387 (Herrera), 1514 (Deputy Speaker and TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza), 1675 (Quezon City 4th District Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas), 2210 (CIBAC Party-list Rep. Eduardo ‘Bro. Eddie’ Villanueva), 2916 (Bacolod City Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya), 3425 and 4348 (Reps. Harris Christopher Ongchuan of Northern Samar 2nd District and JC Abalos of 4PS Party-list), and 3623 (Co-Pilar).
It is also supported by House Resolution 177 by Deputy Speaker and Batangas 6th District Rep. Ralph Recto.
Tutor asked the CSC to expedite and complete its study on addressing the job orders and contractualization of service personnel by January next year.
“The budget implications of ending public sector contractualization will be partly addressed by regularizing those who have served for over five years and already have met most of the qualification standards, especially the educational and training components,” she said in a statement after the hearing.
Tutor noted the vacant positions are budgeted every year in the annual appropriations.
“Keeping them unfilled distorts the national and local budgets,” she stressed.
The proposed measures aimed to regularize and provide civil service eligibility to non-regular government workers who have served either in national and local government agencies for three, five, and 10 years.