30/12/2025
Hindi Na Kontrata Lang—Ngunit Hindi Pa Rin Sigurado: Ang Dilemma ng mga Government Workers sa Gitna ng “Suki-Politics System"**
What happened to my friend—who started as a contractual worker in one GOCC and is now finally a permanent employee in another—is often framed as a success story. But for thousands of government workers still inside the system, it also exposes a painful dilemma: **security of tenure is too often tied not to merit, but to political timing, alliances, and “suki” politics**.
The Senate hearings in late 2025 did more than reveal a broken labor system. They surfaced an uncomfortable truth long whispered in government offices: many contractual employees survive not by performance alone, but by navigating political stand-offs—waiting for the right administration, the right board, the right patron. Renewal seasons become moments of anxiety. Elections feel like employment threats. Loyalty is quietly redirected from institution to individual.
In GOCCs that function like corporations—such as SBMA and Clark Development Corporation (CDC)—“flexibility” has long meant prolonged contractualization. But beneath that term lies a deeper reality: **workers remain temporary not because their jobs are temporary, but because permanency is often rationed through power and proximity**. Who endorsed you? Whose term are you under? Will the next leadership retain you?
# # # The Real Structural Problem: Policy vs. Patronage
From a scholarly standpoint, the issue is structural—but it is also political. The plantilla system, meant to professionalize the civil service, became a convenient choke point. With nearly **919,000 JO/COS workers** nationwide and **168,000+ vacant permanent positions**, the gap was never about capacity. It was about control. Contractual labor made it easier to manage loyalty, silence dissent, and recycle workers without long-term obligation.
From a journalist’s lens, the human cost is visible. Highly skilled workers drift from one GOCC to another, becoming institutional nomads—experienced but insecure, competent yet disposable. Their dilemma is cruelly simple: **speak up and risk non-renewal, or stay quiet and hope the politics turn in your favor**.
# # # A Crack in the System
The **CSC–COA–DBM Joint Circular No. 1 (s. 2025)** begins to disrupt this cycle:
* A **cap on contractual hiring**, limiting political recycling of JOs/COS
* **Mandatory prioritization for absorption**, weakening patronage discretion
* A proposed **20% premium**, acknowledging long-denied labor rights
These reforms don’t erase fear overnight—but they reduce the space where “suki” politics thrives.
# # # When Political Will Breaks the Pattern
Pasig City remains the clearest counterexample. Mayor Vico Sotto’s decision to regularize employees with decades of service showed that what many agencies call “constraints” are often choices. By filling a **91% plantilla vacancy rate**, Pasig proved that governance anchored on merit is not only fairer—but more efficient.
# # # Statistical Snapshot (2025):
* **919,000+** JO/COS workers (≈30% of the public workforce)
* **168,000+** vacant permanent positions ordered to be filled
* **5,000+** workers regularized in Pasig since 2019
The proposed **Regularization of Work Engagement in Government Service Act**—granting permanency after **5–10 years**—offers a way out of the political hostage cycle. It signals a future where tenure is earned by service, not sponsorship.
The hiring cap may have stopped the bleeding. What matters now is whether reforms can finally free government workers from a system where employment depends on who is in power. For nearly **one million public servants**, hope lies in transforming loyalty to politicians into loyalty to institutions—and turning survival into stability.
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