PANGILINAN: LONG-SERVING CONTRACTUAL, CASUAL GOVT EMPLOYEES DESERVE REGULARIZATION

MANILA -- Casual and contractual employees who have served continuously for at least five years in government service deserve to have regular, permanent jobs, said Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Tuesday.

The government is the biggest employer of the country, with about 1.4 million civil servants in its employ in 2010. However, almost 3 in 4 non-career government employees held casual and contractual positions. Casual employees numbered 78,842 or 53.1 percent of the total non-career government personnel while the number of contractual employees was at 31,882 or 21.5 percent.

"Karapat-dapat na ang mga casual at contractual na empleyado ay magkaroon ng pagkakataon na matamo ang mga bunga ng kanilang paggawa at pagbubuno, tulad ng job security, social security, Pag-IBIG, at iba pang mga benepisyong tinatamasa ng mga regular na empleyado (Casual and contractual employees deserve to be given the equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of their hard work and perseverance such as having job security, social security, Pag-IBIG, and other benefits and privileges accorded to regular employees," Pangilinan said.

"Ngayon, kailangan nilang maging civil service eligible para maituring na pwedeng ma-regular. Naniniwala tayo na ang tagal ng kanilang karanasan sa paninilbihan sa taumbayan ay sapat na para sila ay ma-regular. Ito ang dahilan para sa Civil Service Eligibility Bill na ito (Right now, they are required to be civil service eligible to be considered for regular employment. We believe that their long years of experience in the service of our people is enough to merit them regularization which is why we filed the Civil Service Eligibility Bill)," he added.

Senate Bill No. 59 or the Civil Service Eligibility Bill aims to grant civil service eligibility to casual and contractual government employees who have rendered a total of five years of continuous and efficient service.

"Dapat bigyan ng pamahalaan ang mga tapat at totoo sa kanilang paninilbihan sa burukrasya ng pagkakataon para makamit ang kanilang civil service eligibility (The government should grant these dedicated employees who have rendered efficient service in the bureaucracy an opportunity to obtain their civil service eligibility)," Pangilinan said.

Contractualization is a practice that violates the right to work because it denies the existence of an employer-employee relationship, avoids the regularization of workers, and prevents workers from enjoying benefits accorded regular workers.

Article XIII, Section 3 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution guarantees "that the state shall afford full protection to labor" and workers "shall be entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living." This constitutional right is elaborated by the Philippine Labor Code and several Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) orders.

Senator Pangilinan filed the Civil Service Eligibility Bill for the 17th Congress along with his other priority bills such as the Sagip Saka, creation of a Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Free Public WiFi Bill, maternity leave bill, among others.