The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Friday said it would find ways to create more plantilla positions in the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

This, as DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the agency would continue to push for the regularization of its employees under contracts of service (COS) and job orders (JOs).

In a statement, the DBM said it can only create positions in a government department or office once a requesting agency makes a proper submission of request.

“This is the case since the departments/agencies are still in the best position to identify and determine the appropriate positions for creation to enable their agency to fully implement their programs/projects,” the DBM said.

During the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on DSWD’s proposed 2025 budget on Monday, Gatchalian said the DSWD has submitted a three-year plan to the DBM for the regularization of its COS and JO personnel.

Gatchalian said the agency wants the gradual transition of COS and JOs into more stable positions, citing the migration of its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) personnel to contractual employees.

The DBM said it had several consultation meetings with the DSWD since 2022 to address various concerns and facilitate the creation of the 4Ps Bureau and its corresponding positions, including those at the regional levels.

It said it provided recommendations, including the prioritization of the creation of the 4Ps Bureau, when the DSWD presented on July 23 this year the proposed structure and staffing of the proposed bureau.

“We also proposed to the DSWD the evaluation of the mix of positions within the 4Ps Bureau, including regular items which will perform permanent and continuing functions, contractual items to undertake project-based and time-bounded activities, and COS/JO workers to support the Department,” the DBM said.

“Pending the submission of the DSWD’s proposal for the creation of new positions and the regularization of its 4Ps workers, the DBM will continue its close coordination with the agency, especially in prescribing the number of positions and creating the organizational structure that would best serve the interest of its stakeholders, especially the 4Ps beneficiaries,” it added.

A total of 16,634 contractual items have so far been created for the conversion of the DSWD’s existing COS or JO items into contractual positions, the DBM said.

The DSWD’s contractual workers are receiving benefits similar to the regular employees and their rendered services are creditable as government service.

“Of said created contractual items, the DBM has approved the conversion of 9,025 COS/JO items into contractual-coterminous positions, which were assigned in units concerned in the Central and Regional Offices of the DSWD, prior to the institutionalization of the 4Ps back in 2019,” the DBM said.

From December 2020 to May 2024, a total of 7,609 additional contractual positions were created for the existing qualified COS or JO workers of the DSWD who are involved in the implementation of the 4Ps, the DBM said. (PNA)