Job order employees of the city government will have to wait for their salary increases because their contracts of services (COS) are still being finalized by the budget office.
City budget officer Regina Cantillo said Monday during the Question Hour at the first session for 2020 of the City Council that instead of this month, they will receive their salary increases in February pending the completion of requirements of their contracts.
Cantillo said that for the month of January, the job order employees will still receive the old P225 rate per day.
Previously, the city moved to increase their salaries in compliance with the minimum wage requirement of the national government which is P503 from P225 daily.
“Under the executive department ay ang dating rate pa rin ang susundin natin [for the month of January] at ang bagong rate ay magta-take effect pa sa February sa kadahilanan na may mga inaayos pa,” she said.
Cantillo also explained there will be no more job order employees at the city government. All will work under contracts of service which will clearly define the employer-employee relationship, including the terms and conditions of employment.
She said contracts must also include certain terms and essential clauses, such as hours of work and job scopes.
“Ang mangyayari ay contract of service na ang bawat job order kung saan ilalagay doon kung anong magiging tungkulin nila, hindi pa namin ito natapos ‘yong mga job description dahil magkakaiba bawat programa,” she explained.
Cantillo said the slight delay was because they did not have enough time to finalize all the documents due to the long holiday season.
Cantillo also said that contracts of service will be made individually and specifically, depending on their jobs in more than 50 programs of the city government.
“Kung i-implement namin agad ang bagong rate ay supposed to be ay dapat noong December pa naayos ang mga contract. Alam naman natin napakahaba ng bakasyon at maiksi ang panahon para i-prepare ang contracts ng more than 50 programs ng city government. Marami pa tayong kino-consider, nagbawas [ng empleyado] at may mga dumagdag na programs, kaya po kailangan makita muna kung ilan talaga ang kailangan bawat program,” she added.
Meanwhile, councilor Peter Maristela said most of the employees are expecting to receive their new rates this month.
He appealed to the City Budget Office (CBO) to make this possible even without the contracts of service.
“Ngayong January ay ini-expect nila na P503 na ang sweldo nila kaya nga hinihingi namin ang paliwanag ninyo para maintindihan kung ano ang nangyari. Baka pwede na ngayong January ay P503 na sila kahit na wala pa silang kontrata kapag pipirma na sila ay from January to March or up to six months. Kung contract lang rin ang problema na magagawa naman ng February ay kahit ma-delay ang sweldo ngayong January at isabay sa February ay atleast tumaas na kung contract lang ang problema. Unless may problema talaga doon sa budget natin,” Maristela said.
Referring to Maristela’s suggestion, she said that they are avoiding that kind of system that eventually brings negative effects to the city government.
Cantillo said there are around 3,000 job order employees who are currently employed by the city government but they will still need to identify the number of employees needed for each project.
“Gusto kasi namin na bago sila mag-start ay may hawak na silang contract, iniiwasan natin na volunteer then pagdating ng panahon ay maniningil. Kaya no contract, no work, no pay po tayo. Mayroon na tayong job order [na naka-pirma] kasi one sheet ay 50 agad [individuals] ‘yong wala pa ‘yong contract of service kasi ‘yon po ay isa-isa silang gagawan,” Cantillo said.
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