MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) admitted before the Senate committee on finance on Monday that their hiring process is a bit slow, albeit adhering to government rules and procedures.
DMW Undersecretary for Finance and Internal Management Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones confirmed this after Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, during the Senate deliberations on the proposed 2024 budget of the DMW, questioned unfilled vacancies in the agency.
“Our hiring process is a bit slow. We became a victim of our own advocacy announcements. Would you believe that when we announced in March the recruitment vacancies, we received 16,000 applications? We want to do justice to all the applicants and comply with civil service-established recruitment rules,” said Velasco-Allones.
“But the good news Sir is that it’s moving …. We hope to complete the processes [and] deliberations by the end of November,” she added.
Based on the data shown during the budget deliberations, the number of unfilled positions in DMW stands at 1,368.
A total of 1,279 vacancies are under the Office of the Secretary while the remaining 89 are under the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
Velasco-Allones also pointed out that they have already accomplished several appointments.
In fact, these were already sent to then Secretary Toots Ople, who, however, died on August 22,
Velasco-Allones likewise appealed to Malacañang, asking the Palace to grant DMW officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac the special power to sign appointments.