The Pasig City local government unit (LGU) received on Tuesday, Aug. 22, the bronze award of the Civil Service Commission (CSC)’s Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resources Management (PRIME-HRM).
Pasig is only the fourth LGU in the whole country to receive the PRIME-HRM Maturity Level 2 System certification.
With more than 10,000 laborers employed in the offices and departments of the city government, Pasig is also the largest agency to receive the award.
PRIME-HRM is "a mechanism that empowers government agencies by developing their human resource management competencies, systems, and practices toward HR excellence." It also engages with both HRM officers and an agency's rank-and-file employees.
According to Mayor Vico Sotto, the city’s HRDO earned the Level 2 status for being able to institutionalize improvements in four sectors, namely: recruitment, selection, and placement (RSP); learning and development (L&D); performance management (PM); and rewards and recognition (R&R).
Many of the improvements in these areas were new to the city government, he noted.
Sotto highlighted the efforts of the HRDO staff in helping his administration pursue its goals of developing a “merit-based, competent, and efficient bureaucracy.”
The accolade conferred by the CSC to the city was a testament to the local government’s commitment to reforming the past HRM system.
“Simple lang naman po ang layunin natin dito, gusto natin taasan ang antas at serbisyo ng ating mga kawani sa ating lokal na pamahalaan (The objective of this [PRIME-HRM] is simple. We want to increase the level and the services given by the members of our local government),” Sotto said.
“[Dahil] alam po natin na pag lumakas po ang bureaukrasya, ang lokal na pamahalaan natin, ano man ang mangyari sa pulitika, patuloy na gaganda ang serbisyo ng ating lokal na pamahalaan (Because we know that if we strengthen our bureaucracy, no matter what happens in politics, the services offered by our local government will continue to be better),” he added.
Since 99.9 percent of all government work is done by its laborers, Sotto emphasized his role as the head of management and policymaker to empower the government’s labor force.
“Siguraduhin natin na unti-unti natin pinapantay ang sistema ng palakasan. Ang patronage politics unti-unti nating ginigiba (Let’s ensure to balance the systems of competition, and gradually dismantle patronage politics),” said the mayor.
Despite their achievement, Sotto said there are still further improvements to be made in the HRDO such as the speeding up of applications and promotions processes.
Moreover, learning and development programs and capacity building activities will continue for government employees.
As part of the government’s aim to streamline its services and improve human resources, it began a mass regularization program to address the issues of contractualization in the city hall, which has hindered longtime job order (JO) or contractual employees from enjoying the full benefits provided to regular employees.
It has been able to regularize more than 2,000 employees and promote over 5,000 from 2019 to 2022.
“Mukhang this year, for the first time sa history ng Pasig City, mas marami na tayong permanent kesa sa casual employees (It seems that this year, for the first time in the history of Pasig City, we will have more permanent workers than we have casual employees),” Sotto said.
The city government annually honors its employees who have served the government from 10 to nearly 50 years. It has also recently given “Government Employee Service Awards” to 55 retirees for rendering 15 and more years of public service.
Alongside regularization, the local government continues to create policies and adequate systems to provide salary increases for workers and give them financial incentives like bonuses and hazard pay.