Still no end to endo even in City Hall

One of the promises of Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte was the end of contractualization (endo), but the latest report on this issue that came out in yesterday’s news came from Associated Labor Union President Sonny Matula who said that Pres. Duterte asked for more time (another month) to study the draft executive order that was submitted by the labor groups. Of course, this issue is quite delicate and it should be done only after a serious study by the chief executive.

But what about contractualization in the government? A month ago, we wrote in this column that the people I used to work with when I was the chairman of the Cebu Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) were still on contract that expires every three months. When we wrote that column, I got “dedma” from the officials of Cebu City. Why? If we in the private sector have to accept an employee who is already working six months in our companies why can’t the government do the same?

For the record, our fellow columnist Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez who writes in his column ‘What matters most’ also wrote a column entitled “Contractualization in government” last Feb. 6, 2018. How many traffic enforcers have been working for 15 or even 20 years in Cebu City? Is it fair that the private sector gets penalized for violating these labor laws, while the government violates these laws with impunity?

Let me reprint a portion of Atty. Jimenez’s column where he details what these workers do in the government. “There are, today, millions of non-tenured government employees. They do the menial, manual, and heavy work. They clean offices, manage supplies and records, maintain the buildings, man elevators, even run errands for the executives and directors. They even do personal tasks. They act as couriers, messengers, buyers of supplies, drivers, and laborers. Some are encoders, cooks, office and laboratory assistants. They obey without question. They run from here to there, and even render overtime without additional wages. It is high time that their status be enhanced. Senator Nancy should be commended for her bill.”

So for the nth time will the officials of Cebu City first admit that they have yet to end hiring contractual workers? If so, then we would like to see them take positive steps to pay those workers who have been working with Cebu City for so many years. Just for the record, The Philippine STAR editorial a couple of days ago was entitled “The rule of law: The biggest mover.” When we talk about adhering to the principles of Human Rights, all workers, whether from the government or private sector, have the right to be recognized for the years of service that they have done for their company or agency. So what will it be?

*  *  *

Yesterday, there was a huge colored front page photo of a 12-story building leaning on its side after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Hualien County in Taipei, Taiwan, killing six people. Another 140 are considered missing. Come to think of it, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake isn’t really that powerful. If you recall on Oct. 15, 2013 Cebu and Bohol experienced a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, which brought down the belfry of the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño and numerous stone churches in Bohol. Three weeks later, super typhoon Yolanda struck the Visayas, notably Tacloban.

Again I’d like to reiterate that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has warned us of a possible earthquake that may happen in Negros Oriental anytime now because of a magnitude-3.1 earthquake that struck at 5:46 p.m. last Thursday, 10 kilometers southwest of Valencia, located in Negros Oriental’s south-lying third district. In fact a friend of mine posted a photo in his Facebook page of a place near Dumaguete where steam was coming out of rock fissures.

To warn our people further, The Philippine STAR issued an editorial yesterday entitled “Earthquake preparedness” as if we can truly be prepared for the coming Big One! At this point, we like to exhort the Department of Education to conduct earthquake drills for whatever they are worth. If they do this, at least we know that when an earthquake happens, we can be assured that our children or grandchildren know what do when the earthquake strikes.

*  *  *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.