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Baguio city employees fear job loss

Reorganization pushes through

BAGUIO CITY (Oct. 20) — For government employees at the Baguio City Hall, merging five offices seems neither simple nor efficient and responsive.

The Baguio City Employees-Laborers Association (BCELA) and the Cordillera chapter of the militant Confederation for Unity, Recognition, and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) criticized the ongoing City Hall reorganization, saying the process is questionable and threatens their job security.

“We were not consulted,” said Bernadette Fedcheck, a government streetsweeper and a member of BCELA’s adhoc committee. “Our participation as affected employees would have been valuable had our insights in drafting the process been sought,” she added.

Employees also suspect that City Hall’s move may be related to the national government reorganization plan that will reduce the number of government employees by 420,000.

Flawed process

In January this year, the city council and then Mayor Bernardo Vergara passed a budget ordinance, which recommended a restructuring of the city hall bureaucracy effective September 1.

Due to lack of prior and proper consultation as provided for by R.A. 6656 – the law on the protection of government personnel in implementing the reorganization – and due to protests by employees, current Mayor Braulio Yaranon proposed in August to suspend the proposal. His resolution was however disapproved by the city council, and the reorganization pushed through.

The partial reorganization merged the Office of the City Architect and Parks Superintendent (OCAPS), the Public Utilities Services Office (PUSO), the City Engineer’s Office (CEO), the General Services Office (GSO), and some personnel of the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) into two offices. These are the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) and the Building Architecture Office (BAO).

This should have been finished by September, but the affected employees still complain about their job assignments and reappointments after their original positions were abolished.

The process, which critics say is flawed, caused confusion among affected employees. The reorganization proposal was also not submitted to the Civil Service Commission (CSC), thus adding to the employees’ job insecurity and lack of protection.

Alternatives

R.A. 7160 or the Local Government Code provides an option for local government units to undertake reorganizations to achieve simplicity, efficiency, economy and responsiveness in local government administration.

However, COURAGE Cordillera coordinator Jeanette Ribaya said such problems could be solved by means other than reorganization.

“For example, additional personnel, purchase and upgrading of some equipment, better systems procedures, and management styles are more necessary than reorganization,” she added.

Fedcheck added that there is in fact a lack of personnel and equipment to meet the needs of the growing population. The city GSO has only 89 garbage collectors, 10 trucks, and a bulldozer that malfunctions as of this time, while the city population is estimated at 400,000 and swells to 900,000 during peak tourist seasons such as Panagbenga.

The COURAGE and BCELA spokespersons insist that the previous offices affected by the restructuring have distinct functions and have been fully functioning. Heeding the suggestions of adding personnel and equipment, Ribaya said, would make public service more efficient.

CSC admits problems

The CSC itself observed many problems in past local government reorganizations, such as “disruption of local services delivery, unnecessary wastage of local funds, and unwarranted intervention of factors like partisan politics or costly public service experimentations.”

Ribaya said these various points being raised by employees “should be reviewed in proper consultations” to avoid such problems as pointed out by CSC.

Asked whether they plan to file a court case, Fedcheck, a mother of eight, said “And where would we get the filing fee? Our pay is not enough even for our families.”

Ribaya added that a court case is “very unfair for lowly employees, especially now that court fees also rose.” The ultimate solution, she added, is good governance. “If the officials only consider the employees’ sake, they should give them enough benefits and assistance in work. Also, if they really want reorganization, it should be done through a reorganization ordinance and not through a budget ordinance.”

COURAGE and BCELA are publicizing the issue and passing around petition letters to get at least 10 city council votes in favor of suspending the reorganization. “Of course, getting the votes would be difficult because the city councilors would have to reverse their earlier decision. That’s why we are raising it to the public to get mass support. After all, public service concerns the people,” Ribaya said. # Milena E. Roque for NORDIS

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