To oppose government contractualization, a partylist lawmaker filed a bill that would provide long-term casual state workers automatic civil service eligibility.
House Deputy Minority Leader Bernadette Herrera’s House Bill 1387 will apply to government employees in the first and second levels who have casual or contractual posts and have served for at least five years.
However, according to the bill, these employees “shall not be entitled to any promotion unless they obtain the relevant qualifying condition for that post.”
“The government should set an example as a good employer by aiming towards ending labor contractualization, also known as end-of-contract or endo, in the bureaucracy,” Herrera said.
Data from the Civil Service Commission showed that the government employed around 2.4 million people in 2017, making it the country’s largest employer. Over 660,000 of these people were hired as temporary or contract labor.
The lawmaker emphasized that it can start by granting civil service eligibility to qualified casual or contractual workers who cannot seek regular employment because they are not civil service eligible.
Herrera underscored that granting regular status will serve as “an incentive towards more productive work, investing in one’s job, and taking on a longer-term view at one’s career advancement.”
“Considering the services they extend in all government offices vis-a-vis the insufficient benefits and privileges accorded the casual and contractual employees, the government should grant these dedicated employees who have rendered efficient service in the bureaucracy an opportunity to obtain their civil service eligibility,” she said.