Makati Mayor Abby Binay gets a warm surprise from overjoyed city hall employees who received regular status.
MANILA, Philippines – Makati Mayor Abby Binay on Thursday said that 542 City Hall employees have been granted regular status and 364 have been promoted by the city government since she assumed office in 2016.
The move was in line with her thrust to provide job security and promote excellence in public service.
The mayor reiterated her commitment to strengthening the city’s competitiveness as an employer that can match the private sector’s drawing power for the best and brightest recruits.
“I remain committed to my vision of a professional, highly competent city government workforce that is capable of delivering excellent public service. To be able to attract first-rate workers and retain them for the long haul, we must be able to provide them job security and opportunities for career growth,” Mayor Abby said.
Updated plantilla positions
Earlier, Mayor Abby vowed to prioritize the updating of the plantilla positions of the city government, which dated back to 1990. She noted that these should be updated “to suit the prevailing needs and demands of a highly urbanized city”, as well as to “professionalize the city government workforce.”
Mayor Abby said the latest batch of applications made up of 13 for regularization and 105 for promotion were approved on March 19, 2019.
The mayor said all applications were reviewed and evaluated by the Human Resource Development Office (HRDO) and the Human Resource Merit Promotion and Selection Board (HRMPSB) to ensure that candidates were qualified under the Civil Service guidelines.
Incentive program
According to the HRDO, the almost 1,000 city employees who have been made permanent and promoted since she took office came from several city offices, departments and institutions under the city government.
In 2017, Mayor Abby initiated the first-ever loyalty incentive program for long-time city employees who have been in the service for 10 straight years as of end-2016. The program covers regular, casual and contractual employees.
The pioneer batch consisted of over 4,000 employees, who each received a certificate of recognition and cash incentives, as follows: 40 years in service and above, P20,000; 35 years up to 39 years in service, P17,500; 30 years up to 34 years, P15,000; 25 years up to 29 years in service, P12,500; 20 years up to 24 years, P10,000; 15 years up to 19 years, P7,500; and 10 years up to 14 years, P5,000.
In 2018, the second batch of awardees consisted of 728 regular employees and 256 casual employees, including those who have rendered 10 years of service as of December 31, 2017.