COA lauds Capitol’s termination of JOs, COS medical staff in 2019

The Commission on Audit or COA has lauded the Capitol for its termination of job order and service of contract medical staff for its district hospitals in 2019, which resulted in savings for the provincial government. | CDN file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The present provincial administration’s move to terminate the services of job order (JO) and contract of service (COS) medical personnel in Cebu province has been lauded by the Commission on Audit, citing “some savings” that the Capitol generated from the cut.

In the COA 2019 annual audit report for the Cebu provincial government, the termination of the JOs and COS was the one move of the Capitol administration that the state auditors “commended.”

“We commend the present Administration of the Province of Cebu who favorably acted upon the (…) audit recommendation on observations noted in the audit, transactions, accounts, and operation for calendar 2019,” state auditor said in the COA report.

“The Province of Cebu had totally stopped the hiring of the 563 medical personnel and staff under [a] contract of service (COS), job order (JO) which cost P19,891,990 monthly as compared to the current 117 regular plantilla positions on the 16 Provincial and District Hospitals,” the COA report added.

Last October 1, 2019, the services of LServe Corp. (formerly LBP Service Corporation) to supply the Capitol with medical and non-medical personnel for a period of one year, pursuant to its winning of the P277 million worth of outsourcing contracts, began.

LServ, a manpower company based in Makati City, won the P176.66 million contract for the 443 medical personnel and the P82.97 million contract for the 359 clerical employees last September 10.

READ: Capitol to be ‘job order-free’ starting October 1

COA report said the present arrangement has generated some savings for the province which “could be utilized for other operating expenses to ensure its responsiveness to the health care needs of its constituents.”

The outsourcing of medical, and even the clerical employees, however, drew negative feedback during the onset of its implementation.

The Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital (ICKMH) in Argao town, southern Cebu, reportedly shut down for hours after the medical officer assigned there tendered her resignation and “walked out” over employment issues on October 2.

READ: Gwen wants ‘walk out’ doctor penalized
READ: Davide ‘uncomfortable’ with Capitol’s move to outsource medical personnel

Days after Lserv ‘s contract commenced on October 1, the agency continued to post job openings for medical officers and medical specialists.

READ: Cebu Capitol to hire doctors as JO workers after manning agency yields no applicants

The COA report affirmed that the Capitol retained JO and COS medical specialists and medical officers “in consideration with the appropriate personnel complement each hospital require.”

“Thereby generating some savings from salaries which could be utilized for other operating expenses to ensure its responsiveness to the health care needs of its constituents, taking into consideration the PS (personnel schedule) limitation provided under Section 325 of RA 7160 (Local Government Code),” the state auditors said in the COA report./dbs