MANILA, Philippines — There is nothing wrong with hiring contractual employees at procurement units of government agencies, the Government Procurement Policy Board director said Wednesday.
Rowena Ruiz issued this statement after Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. accused the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) of committing “illegal” act for allegedly having non-permanent members in the bids and awards committees (BACs) of its Procurement Service (PS).
READ: Andaya: DBM violates law for hiring contractual workers at procurement unit
According to Andaya, members of the BACs are contractual and job order employees, adding that PS Executive Director Bingle Gutierrez is also a contractual employee whose term expires this June.
“How can contractual employees be responsible for bidding [out] these big projects? Sa halip na permanenteng empleyado ng DOTr (Department of Transportation) ang magsagawa ng bidding, ipinasa sa contractual employees ng DBM-PS. Hindi ba malinaw na may anomalya rito?” he asked.
Ruiz, however, refuted Andaya’s allegations.
She cited in a statement that, “By provision of Item 5 of the LOI (Letter of Instructions) 755 dated Oct. 18, 1978, the Procurement Service shall be staffed by persons on detail from the member agencies of the Council and/or by contractual personnel. The Service shall not have any permanent employees.”
“We are constrained by the express prohibition against PS having permanent employees,” she noted.
“Nonetheless, contractual personnel,” she said, “remain to be accountable to their actions having been engaged with employer-employee relationship, and are therefore considered government employees. In fine, their contractual status doesn’t make them any less liable nor does it place the government in a disadvantaged position.”
Ruiz further explained that “the rationale for this is precisely to protect the government by enabling the head of the PS to immediately dismiss or severe the employment relationship of erring contractual employees of the PS.”
“Given the nature of the work of PS, primarily the procurement of common-use supplies, it becomes imperative to have a mechanism in place to counter the susceptibility of PS personnel to corruption and other temptations in their work,” she added. /kga