EDITORIAL - JO legal action faces dead end

Some of the more than 700 job order workers terminated recently by City Hall are reportedly planning to initiate legal action against their termination. That can only worsen their situation. Even if they can acquire free legal services, either from a good samaritan lawyer or from the public attorney's office, it is doubtful if they can have the other resources and the patience to fight what can only be a protracted legal battle.

Sure they can invoke principle in pursuing their fight. But what really is principle, or at least, what is the principle involved here? In the first place, the nature of their employment is rooted in patronage politics, one of the most unprincipled human practices ever. It is rooted in a belief dating back to pre-civilization that to the victor belongs the spoils.

The government itself has made it unequivocably clear that job order employees do not enjoy employer-employee status. What that means is that a JO can be given peanuts by government if it so pleases and it is up to the JO whether or not to accept and live with this type of insult and abuse. The government could not care less under the situation because it knows that for every JO that leaves or is stripped of his means of livelihood, there will be 500 waiting to take his place.

It is almost as if JOs have no right to human dignity. But that is the sad reality. Those who actually need more in life are the ones deprived the most by no one else but their very own government. There is never any compunctions to even just sympathize with them. If they happen to be hired by one political faction, they are regarded as dead meat by the incoming one.

Political appointees are never viewed for their worth but for their color. A new administration comes in and all JOs from the previous one are out. There is never any second thought about how many mouths will be deprived of food when the main consideration is simply to remove the political hires of one and replace them with the political hires of another. JOs are no more than political pawns.

More than 700 JOs terminated represents a very huge number of people to drive into hunger. But that thought probably never went into the equation. What could have been considered was "the replacement of your people with my people." It is a vicious cycle that has been going on for almost forever. And it will keep going on forever until political perspectives in this country mature enough to allow the human dimension of politics to creep in.

But for now, no matter how much anyone may commiserate with the poor JOs and their plight, there is really no helping them. The best JOs can hope for is that some of them may be reconsidered and hired again. But you cannot do that by burning your bridges such as bringing to court the almighty appointing authority. Let's face it. Many JOs perform real jobs but until they are no longer considered political pawns, they will keep getting removed from their jobs again and again.