Vice President Leni Robredo, and representatives of the LENI Urban Poor (LENI UP), a coalition of nearly a thousand urban groups nationwide, sign a covenant that will address the immediate issues faced by the urban poor in the country on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. OVP handout
MANILA — Vice President Leni Robredo said on Wednesday she would "exert all effort" to regularize "job order" (JO) workers in government if she wins the presidency in the May 9 elections.
Robredo said these government workers should be enrolled with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) so they can receive her proposed "unemployment insurance" for people who would lose their jobs during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Kaya nga kailangan iyong kampanya nito, kasabay nito iyong kampanya ng regularization kasi sinasabi natin na parang ang pinaka-number one na violator ng maraming labor code violations ay gobyerno mismo dahil ang dami nating job order na mga employees,” she said in DZRH's "Presidential Job Interview."
“Ito ay lalakarin natin to exert all effort na ma-regularize na sila.”
(This campaign should be paired with the campaign for regularization because we say the number one violator of many labor code violations seems to be the government itself because we have so many job order employees. We will push this, exert all effort so that they are regularized.)
The vice president acknowledged, “Hindi natin ito kakayanin na abrupt.”
“Pero papunta tayo doon sa isang scenario na dapat wala nang JO (job order), papunta tayo sa scenario na dapat regular na iyong mga nagtatrabaho sa gobyerno.”
(This cannot be done abruptly. But we will go to a scenario where there should no longer be any JO, we will go to a scenario where those working in government are regular employees.)
There were around 669,000 contract of service and job order government workers in 2019, said the Civil Service Commission.
Robredo said "unemployment insurance" should be given for 3 months and equal to 80 percent of a worker's salary. Aside from the GSIS, she said she would push for the insurance to be part of the Social Security System (SSS).
“Ito yung parang tulay nila habang naghahanap sila ng trabaho ay meron silang mapagkukuhanan ng kanilang pang-araw-araw na kabuhayan,” said the presidential aspirant.
(This will be a sort of lifeline while they are looking for work, so they could have a source of funds for their daily expenses.)
“Iyong lahat ng SSS members saka GSIS members, dapat iyong unemployment insurance ay meron silang access nito. Magiging programa ito ng ating pamahalaan kasi nakita natin kung gaano kahirap iyong nawawalan ng trabaho, lalo nitong COIVD-19 pandemic natin,” she added.
(All SSS and GSIS members should have access to this unemployment insurance. This will be a program of our government because we saw how difficult it is to lose one's job, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Informal workers should also be enrolled into the system, Robredo said.
“Gagawa tayo ng maraming effort… para iyong mga benefits na natatanggap ng ating [formal] workers ay matanggap na rin nila,” she said.
(We will make a lot of effort so that the they can also receive the benefits that our formal workers get.)