MANILA – It looks as if the government has not been spared from the adverse impact of the global financial and economic crunch following official announcement that a total of 1,242 workers from the state-run food agency are facing dismissal.
A spokesman of the National Food Agency (NFA) confirmed that the affected workers, who comprise 25 percent of the NFA’s total labor force of 4,983, were already officially notified of their forthcoming dismissal,
The spokesman also insisted that their dismissal had nothing to do with the ongoing crisis but instead forms part of the government’s rationalization program to reduce the number of the estimated 1.2 million civil servants that comprise the Philippine bureaucracy.
According to the spokesman, the 1,242 workers to be affected are occupying “redundant” positions, meaning that they are duplicating the same jobs being performed by others in the agency.
He added that the rationalization program, which started in 2003, envisions a reduction in the number of government workers to make the bureaucracy “lean and mean” without affecting the effective and efficient delivery of basic services to the people.
The spokesman argued that the NFA has been around since 1972 and since times have changed, there is a need to make internal changes to make it more efficient.
He added not all positions that were needed before are necessary now. So, as the NFA evolves, it may need to create new positions that are more in tune with the changing times, he also stressed.
But NFA officials and employees questioned the timing of the forthcoming dismissals, coming as it did when the country is already suffering from the adverse impact as the global crisis deepens.
The NFA, an attached agency under the Department of Agriculture, is mandated by law to import basic items, particularly corn and rice, the staple food of the 90 million Filipinos.
In the case of rice, for instance, the NFA is now engaged in the distribution of imported rice at subsidized prices, equivalent to 45 US cents per kilogram, to the country’s poorest of the poor as determined and validated in surveys by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Joined by members of militant groups, like the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, or May 1 Movement), officers and members of the NFA labor union held a protest rally Wednesday and Thursday in front of the Mabuhay rotunda at the boundary of the cities of Manila and Quezon.
The NFA workers claimed that management is engaged in “union busting” because many of those facing ouster are officers and members of the agency’s labor group, who have been denouncing alleged massive corruption at the NFA.
The anomalies include the alleged divcrsion of imported cereal by unscrupulous NFA personnel who are in cahoots with commercial rice dealers, they said.
But the NFA spokesman assured there is no cause for alarm, saying that all the affected government workers have until March 24 this year to decide on their options.
He clarified that employees in redundant positions would be given other vacant jobs if they are qualified and are willing to undergo retraining.
If the NFA employees affected also do not want to retire yet, the spokesman said they could be accommodated in other government departments and offices where their skills and training are needed.
Another option, he said, is for the NFA employees to avail of the early retirement package being offered by the agency, which includes incentives such as increased financial benefits.
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