4Ps solon lobbies for DSWD personnel regularization
CONGRESSMAN Atty. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan , of the 4Ps Party-list, yesterday urged Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Erwin Tulfo to initiate the regularization of more than 800 workers, saying that implementers of social protection programs deserve security of tenure.
In the budget deliberation at the Lower House, out of DSWD’s 32,842-strong workforce nationwide, only 3,286 workers have regular positions, the Lower House Minority Leader said during the DSWD’s budget hearing, citing official data.
Meanwhile, 15,811 personnel from the DSWD Central Office are reportedly under contract of service (COS) or job order workers, making up nearly half of the agency’s working population, Atty. Libanan said.
The lawmaker says that keeping government employees in contractual or job order positions is not only “insensitive” but also goes against the DSWD’s core principle of compassion and care for the welfare of the Filipino nation.
According to Congressman Libanan, non-regularization of employees also negatively impacts the agency’s overall quality of workflow especially when hardworking COS and job order employees decide to resign to seek greener pastures.
“The DSWD, being one of the most important agencies of the Philippine government, should have more institutional support to be able to regularize hardworking individuals and boost their morale,” he said, noting its urgency considering the impending rightsizing of government offices.
Hailing DSWD as one of the most important government agencies in the country, Congressman Libanan pledged support in securing sufficient budget allocation from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the DSWD to regularize COS and job order positions.
“Just give us the information that we need so we can request for the creation of permanent positions,” he vowed.
Tulfo, who was also present during the meeting, said the DSWD had previously requested the DBM to convert 846 contract of service positions to regular positions and processing is underway.
