The Commission on Audit (COA) has recommended the appointment to regular positions in the local government of Bacolor town in Pampanga of the 328 job-order (JO) employees who have been doing the work of permanent employees.
In an audit report, COA said the JO employees have continuously performed the essential duties and functions of regular personnel which is in violation of the 2017 joint memorandum circular (JMC) of the COA with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
It said the JMC states that the "hiring of Job Order workers shall be limited to emergency or intermittent work such as clearing of debris on the roads, canals, waterways, etc. after natural/man-made disasters/occurrences; other trades and crafts, and manual tasks such as carpentry, plumbing, painting, electrical and the like which are not part of the regular functions of the agency."
But COA said that majority of the JO employees in Bacolor were made to perform the tasks under the offices of the municipal treasurer’s office, accounting Office, engineering office, business license and permit division, human resource management office, assessor’s office, and budget office, among other offices.
It said the JO employees perform the functions of regular employees such as collection, preparation of reports, and other office-related clerical work.
Worse, the regularity of the payment of payroll for the JO employees could not be ascertained because of the non-use of biometrics to support their attendance, it said in its report.
There was also no monthly accomplishment report to support the payment of their salaries, it said.
Despite the "necessity" of their work, the COA said that "the appointment status of JOs as well as their responsibilities were not commensurate to their compensation."
"The failure of the legislative department to strictly require their employees to abide with the rules, regulations, and policies of the municipality is a poor reflection on their part as the department in charge of drafting and issuing various resolutions and ordinances to be implemented," the COA stressed.
It recommended that the local chief executive limit essential and regular duties of JOs in core offices to permanent and casual employees, particularly those with accountability for government funds.
All department heads, the COA said, should carefully evaluate their performances and consider those who perform well for regular positions.
Moving forward, the JOs assigned to the legislative department have been directed to use biometrics and submit accomplishment reports on the jobs or tasks done in support of the payroll, it added.