Duterte urged to walk the talk: End gov’t ‘endo’

End “endo” in government, too.

Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto on Tuesday called on the Duterte administration to “practice what it preaches” and end the contractual employment of up to 120,000 workers in government by absorbing them as regular employees.

Recto’s call came in the wake of President Duterte’s demand that  private firms stop hiring personnel on a temporary basis, threatening to shut down those that will not comply with his order to stop the practice referred to as “endo,” a shorthand for “end of contract.”

The senator said the government should “open a pathway to regular employment for thousands of casuals who are eligible for permanent civil service.”

“The fact is, government is one of the biggest buyers of outsourced labor in the country today,” Recto said.

Contractual employees are deprived of benefits, such as health coverage and bonuses. Companies have, however, perpetuated the practice of constantly renewing contractual workers as a cost-saving measure.

Recto said it was no different in government, with the size of casual and contractual in state agencies “as big as the Army.”

He said there should be an inventory of temporary state workers, including those hired through “job order,” “emergency hiring” and the “memorandum of agreement” scheme—all postings that do not afford an opportunity for regularization.

The lawmaker proposed that casual state employees “who have been in the service for at least five years, who are civil service-eligible, and whose work has been rated excellent,” should be given the chance to become regular workers.

Recto said the last count was by the Civil Service Commission in 2010, which found that there were 21,315 contractual workers and 97,951 casuals in government, or a total of close to 120,000.

The total does not include workers hired through job orders, or those paid through the MOOE, or maintenance and other operating expenses of government agencies, and workers hired in subcontracted terms like security guards and maintenance or utility workers.

In 2014, the national government spent P11.6 billion for outsourced general services like janitorial, environmental and sanitary and security personnel; and P9.6 billion as pay for contractual and casual employees, Recto said.

Local governments spent even more: nearly P10 billion for salaries of casuals, P3.2 billion for contractuals and P623 million for emergency, substitute and part-time workers, he said.

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