COA: Cebu City relies on temporary staff amid 2,000 vacant posts
A glimpse at the facade of the Cebu City Hall. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa [JULY 16, 2023: FILE PHOTO]
Plantilla positions, permanent roles within the government, are essential for maintaining efficient and effective service delivery to the city’s constituents. However, the huge number of unfilled positions translates to the city government’s overall operations and service quality.
2,311 vacant plantilla positions
As of December 31, 2023, the city had approved a total of 3,645 plantilla positions, yet only 1,334, or 36.6 percent were filled. The remaining 63.4 percent—a total of 2,311 positions—remain vacant.
In contrast, the city’s personnel inventory includes 3,172 casual employees and 3,338 job order workers.
On April 1, preventively suspended City Mayor Michael Rama announced that regularization of government positions is now available, following the completion of the employee evaluation process for the rightsizing implementation.
The employee evaluation aimed to reduce the number of employees from 10,000 to 3,000 by 2025. As a result, a “massive regularization” is set to commence.
Rama declared an expansion of the government workforce, with 600 permanent positions now open.
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According to preventively suspended city administrator Collin Rosell, there are about 2,300 regular job spots that need to be filled across the city government, but “due to budget limits,” only 600 can be made permanent this year.
“The information provided by the Human Resource Development Office (HRDO) also showed that since calendar year (CY) 2021 there had been no significant increase in the number of permanent employees occupying plantilla positions, as shown below. In contrast, more than 50 percent of the City’s workforce comprises primarily of casual and job order workers. These suggest that there have been no sustained efforts to fill up the vacant plantilla positions,” the report stated.
The above figures, COA reported, highlighted a reliance on temporary staff over permanent employees that had persisted since 2021. Despite the availability of budgeted funds, there has been no significant increase in the number of permanent employees.
What is a plantilla position?
Plantilla positions are permanent roles within government agencies, designed to ensure the stability and continuity of services.
These positions are created based on a rigorous assessment of the agency’s needs and financial capability, as mandated by Section 76 of the Local Government Code (RA No. 7160).
The law requires each local government unit (LGU) to develop its organizational structure and staffing pattern, tailored to its service requirements and financial resources.
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The impact of vacant plantilla positions
The law provides that leaving plantilla positions unfilled can have several adverse effects on the city’s operations and service delivery.
These positions are intended to be filled by qualified personnel who can provide consistent and high-quality services.
When these roles are left vacant, it leads to a reliance on casual and job order workers, who may not have the same level of commitment or training as permanent employees. This can result in inefficiencies, lower service quality, and a lack of continuity in service delivery.
In the case of Cebu City, the COA audit report indicates that some casual and job order workers have been performing functions meant for plantilla positions.
This practice is not in accordance with the Civil Service Commission’s (CSC) rules and undermines the purpose of having a structured staffing pattern.
For example, the Office of the Building Official has 14 vacancies for the Engineer I position, yet 10 casual employees are currently holding these roles.
Similarly, the City Agriculturist’s Office (CAO) has a casual employee filling the role of Administrative Aide I, despite a vacancy for this position.
“While some of the plantilla positions remained vacant, the same position titles were held or the same functions were performed by casual employees. This is not in keeping with Item g, Section 9, Rule IV of the Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions of the CSC,” the report emphasized.
COA’s recommendations
The COA recommended for the city to intensify its efforts to fill these vacant positions by hiring and promoting qualified casual and job order workers. This approach would enhance the quality of services provided to the public and offer job security to deserving employees.
“In view of the above, we recommended that Management intensify its efforts in filling up the vacant plantilla positions through hiring and/or promotion/regularization of its existing casual and job order workers who are qualified for the positions to enhance the quality of the City’s services and to provide job opportunities to potential external talents and security of tenure to deserving in-house personnel,” the report stated.
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Cebu City’s response
In response, the city’s Human Resource Development Office (HRDO) has been actively pursuing initiatives to regularize and reorganize its workforce.
According to their April 22, 2024 reply, the HRDO has been transitioning eligible casual and project-based personnel into permanent roles. Last year, 169 positions were advertised, resulting in 99 permanent appointments.
This year, 50 positions have been published, with four employees already appointed to permanent roles.
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