Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) is faced with an inconvenient truth amid its efforts to rid the country of contractualization – it has its own 686 contractual workers.
Act Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio confronted Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III about this during Wednesday’s hearing on the proposed P10.816-billion budget of Dole for 2018 before the House of Representatives appropriation committee.
Asked by Tinio, Bello said that out of its 6,300 personnel, the Dole had 686 contractual or job order employees.
Tinio noted that contractual workers comprised about 10 percent of the Dole’s employees.
“Yun ang problema. Kayo ang pangunahing ahensiya na nag-i-implement sa pribadong sektor tungkol sa contractualization, pero kayo mismo ay may mga job order,” Tinio said.
Asked if it’s possible to regularize these employees, Bello said budgetary constraints were preventing the department from creating new plantilla positions.
“Kung pwede lang sana. But we are aware of the budgetary constraints. It’s not easy to create plantilla positions,” Bello said.
Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao criticized the alleged failure of Dole to end contractualization, which is also known as “endo” – short for “end of contract.”
Bello responded by saying that the Dole had been making significant strides against endo through Department Order 174.
“This may not be a perfect department order, but it is an order that prohibits illegal or illegitimate contractual relations,” Bello said.
Bello said it was impossible to crack down on legal forms of contractualization like those involving janitors, security guards, and construction workers.
“Logic will dictate that you have to outsource it if you can’t have regular employees. Talagang mahirap yung absolute,” Bello said.
For 2018, the Dole has a proposed budget of P10.816 billion, down from its P11.439 billion allocation for 2017. CBB