Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian has assured the members of the House Committee on Appropriations that the agency is intensifying efforts to provide job security to employees, particularly those who are under contracts of service (COS) and job orders (JOs).
Secretary Gatchalian told the House committee that the Department is embarking on the gradual transition of COS and JOs into more stable positions, citing significant progress with the recent mass contractualization of COS and JOs who have been working with the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) for many years now.
“In fact, sa 4Ps lamang po this year alone, 4,000 of our contract of service workers have been converted already to contractuals. Siyempre hindi ho kami titigil hanggang maging permanent sila. Pero, that’s already a small battle that we have won, that we want to keep on pushing,” Secretary Gatchalian said during the August 21 House deliberation on the DSWD’s proposed budget for 2025.
The DSWD chief said the agency is set to provide for another 4,000 contractuals next year (2025) and the following year (2026) to provide employees with more stable job positions with statutory incentives and benefits.
“As we speak right now, 43 percent of our workforce nationwide are contract of service. It’s a bad number. But I was also tasked by the President to work with the DBM to gradually get everybody into the job security area,” Secretary Gatchalian pointed out.
Currently, the vacant regular positions at the DSWD stand at 8.6 percent of the workforce, consisting of unfilled positions due to difficulties in finding qualified applicants.
To maximize employment for the plantilla positions, the Department is also coordinating with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to adopt guidelines that will aid employees in meeting requirements and qualifications for the job items, according to the DSWD Secretary.
“We try to work with the Civil Service in finding legal ways to soften some of the requirements. We assure you, Madame Chair, that ‘yung lahat ng regular position pipilitin namin mapuno sa mabilis na panahon,” Secretary Gatchalian said. #