By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Negros Occidental provincial government claimed their direct hiring scheme will save the province between P45 to P50 million. Provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, explained the plan intends to hire utility workers as job order employees, most of whom are assigned to the Provincial Veterinary Office, Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, and Mambukal Mountain Resort.
He added, the plan will be implemented on April 1.
The provincial official said, instead of monthly contracts, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson will provide them with one-year contracts. He explained, under agency employment, job order casuals receive less than P10,000 as a monthly salary but, if hired as a job order, they receive P11,065 as basic pay.
In addition, the provincial government pays P17,000 a month to placement agencies for each worker.
“Direct hiring will generate savings of about 50 percent of the allocated budget,” Diaz said.
Meanwhile, the provincial administrator said they are investigating complaints by workers claiming their agencies have not remitted their monthly contributions to the Social Security System and Pag-IBIG Fund.
Diaz also confirmed the number of casual employees will be reduced to 700 this month./DGB, WDJ