Government workers that serve as grassroots implementers of the P103-billion Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are at risk of becoming poor themselves due to the contractual nature of their jobs, House Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan said on Sunday.
“We find it unacceptable that the very people at the frontlines of the government’s fight against poverty are precariously exposed to the hazard of becoming deprived on account of their contractual employment,” Libanan said.
The 4Ps, he said, is basically staffed by temporary contract of service or job order workers down to the municipal level.
“They do not have security of tenure, and they have zero social security protection and no benefits whatsoever. And once their work contracts end, they risk joblessness and poverty, along with their families,” Libanan said.
The lawmaker filed House Bill No. 7410 which seeks to regularize the employment of 4Ps staff through the creation of new program offices and plantilla positions under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Under the bill, the DSWD would be required to establish permanent offices and positions for 4Ps management and operations at the regional, provincial, city and municipal levels.
The new 4Ps offices would be staffed by regular heads, social welfare officers, administrative assistants, and monitoring and evaluation personnel, among others.
At present, the DSWD is one of the smallest executive departments in terms of regular plantilla items.
In the 2023 General Appropriations Act’s staffing summary, the DSWD has only 3,335 authorized permanent staffing positions. Rio N. Araja
