Iggy bats for permanent status of contractual government employees

Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo wants to grant contractual and co-terminus government employees permanent employment status once they have rendered five years of government service.

Arroyo, President Arroyo’s brother-in-law, authored House Bill 4795, which seeks to amend Republic Act 6850. RA 6850 does not give state workers any chance to gain eligibility for security of tenure.

Under Arroyo’s proposal, "qualified" employees will be granted "civil service eligibility."

"It is worthy to note that these employees are likewise employed on the basis of their qualifications or merit and fitness," he said. "However, they cannot be given permanent appointments due to lack of appropriate civil service eligibility."

Under HB 4795, contractual state workers will have the opportunity to qualify for permanent appointment under their present positions. The measure also provides that co-terminus state employees may avail of other available government posts for which they qualify.

"It is high time that we pass a law granting these lowly employees eligibility, so they will get a more permanent status while in government service," he said.

According to Arroyo, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) will "formulate performance evaluation standards in order to determine those contractual and co-terminus employees who are qualified to avail of the privilege."

"The bill will encourage contractual and co-terminus government employees to work more efficiently, considering that they will have the assurance of security of tenure and prevent frequent turnover of personnel," he added.

Meanwhile, Mindoro Occidental Rep. Amelita Villarosa has urged the government to adopt the use of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing, citing the "beneficial effects" such testing would have on solving heinous crimes and in determining with certainty the parentage of children in paternity suits.

Villarosa said the use of DNA technology by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) "has been the prime mover towards more systematic and meticulous methods of solving heinous crimes like rape."

"The benefits of DNA technology should be extended in civil cases, especially in establishing paternity of a child and not be limited to the resolution of criminal cases alone," she said.

Villarosa said the establishment of the filiations — paternity and maternity — of illegitimate children can now be "anchored" on DNA analysis, as is proposed in House Bill 4841, which aims to amend Article 172 of the Family Code by expanding the grounds for establishing parentage to include the results of DNA testing.

"DNA testing should be an acceptable means of establishing paternity in order to best serve the best interest of the child," Villarosa said. "A thoughtless father should not be allowed to deny his child the right to receive support, experience affection or to use his surname."