WORKERS’ BENEFITS
CLOSE to a million contract-of-service (COS) and job order (JO) state workers in the country would soon enjoy full standard employment benefits.
This was stressed by Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas candidate Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. if given the mandate to represent them in the Senate.
Abalos lamented how disheartening it is to see COS and JO employees not receiving any incentives during Christmas because doing so violates Commission on Audit (COA) and Department of Budget Management (DBM) rules.
If elected, the former Interior and Local Government Secretary said he will seek to provide regular gratuity pay to the more or less 832,000 COS and JO workers in the government.
He said one of his priorities is to ensure that Filipinos working under this status would be entitled to these incentives and benefits especially during Christmas.
“Ako naranasan ko nung mayor ako, talagang awang-awa ako na kung minsan sariling pera ko dahil di ko magastos yung sa City Hall dahil baka mamaya mapahamak ako. That’s a circular of COA at DBM,” Abalos pointed out.
Unlike regular government employees, those holding permanent, casual, temporary, co-terminus and (job order and COS) positions do not enjoy the same standard benefits.
Based on the 2023 data from the DBM, JO and COS workers make up 29.68% of the government workforce with over 580,000 work in the local government units and about 173,227 are in various national government agencies.
COS engages individuals working for special projects within a defined period while JO refers to piece work or intgermittent/emergency jobs performed for a short duration on specific tasks.
“Sa lokal na pamahalaan at pati national government, meron tayong tinatawag na mga regular employees, meron tayong mga casual, merong contractual at meron mga job order. Apoat po yan. Pero pagdating sa benepisyo, minimum benefits, ang kawawa lalo na yung dalaw. Yung job order at government service contractors,” he stressed.
