LTO addresses contractualization within agency

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Wednesday said it is now conducting a review of job order positions to address contractualization and instead fill up plantilla positions in the agency.

According to LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II, there are many Job Order positions in the agency, and these include employees that have been with them for several years now.

He pointed out that some of the employees in the said position have no assurance on whether or not they will be able to keep their jobs as their position in the agency remains constantly subject to renewal.

“Marami sa ating mga empleyado sa LTO ay nananatiling Job Order pa din despite the fact na napakatagal na nilang nagtatrabaho sa ahensya. Ito ang gusto nating tugunan para sa kapakanan ng mga karapat-dapat na Job Order employee na napatunayan na ang kanilang commitment at puso sa trabaho dito sa ating LTO,” he said in a press release.

(Many of our employees in LTO remain in Job Order positions even though they have been in the agency for a long time. This is what we want to resolve for the deserving Job Order employees who have already proven their commitment and passion in their work here in LTO.)

The agency said Mendoza wants the security of tenure among its employees. It was also mentioned that LTO is opening at least 800 plantilla positions.

As defined in the Labor Code of the Philippines, the security of tenure protects regular employees from unjust termination of their employment. This security only applies to permanent employees or those who hold plantilla positions.

“Our goal here is to end this system of job order or contractualization because personally, I find it unfair job considering that a number of employees working as job orders have already spent years and were found to be hard working and dedicated to their jobs,” Mendoza said.

“This is actually in line with the President’s Bagong Pilipinas program and part of it is maranasan ng mas maraming Pilipino ang job security (so that more Filipinos can experience job security),” he added.

LTO noted that the contractualization has already been discussed in the budget hearing and that Department of Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has given the agency a go-signal to conduct a review for it.

LTO’s Regional directors and district chiefs were then tasked to determine the number of their personnel who have job order positions, the agency said.

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