Capitol hit for ‘ineffective’ human resource management

By: Gerome Dalipe

The Commission on Audit (COA) slammed the Human Resource Management and Development Office of the Iloilo Capitol for its failure to formulate policies in the hiring of temporary and permanent workers.

This, after the state auditors discovered about 243 and 1,928 unfilled permanent and temporary positions, respectively.

It boiled down to lack of organizational structure, staffing pattern and formulation of policies and procedures in engaging the services of job order (JO) and contract of services workers.

“This exhibited absence of controls which posed the risk of overmanning and hiring of unnecessary or incompetent personnel that might jeopardized the Provincial Government’s resources and operations,” read the COA report.

Sec. 76 of the Local Government Code provides that every local government unit shall design and implement its own organizational structure and staffing pattern based on service requirements and financial capability and pursuant to guidelines set by the Civil Service Commission.

Data from the Capitol showed the Capitol’s workforce has 4,267 personnel, composed of 2,130 and 2,137 permanent and temporary posts, respectively.

The increased in the number of temporary workers showed the absence of established staffing patterns, the auditors said. It also displayed the Capitol’s inaction on the audit team’s observations and recommendations in 2017.

The auditors even recommended to Capitol’s human resources to evaluate the manpower of all department heads, organizational structure, and staffing pattern, among others.

But the recommendations showed that none was implemented. Likewise, temporary workers performing clerical and support services still did not provide for specific activities.

“This limited the validation of the works they were performing because there were no bases or benchmarks to compare accomplishments,” read the COA report.

The increase in the number of unfilled temporary positions was a manifestation of ineffective human resource management, the auditors said.

Instead of filling up permanent positions, the Capitol opted to hire job order workers who have no accountability and continuity of service.

In the report, the auditors asked the governor to direct the provincial administrator to review the present structure and mandates of the Capitol’s Human Resource Office.

“Otherwise, effect the change by restructuring the office and updating its mandates and functions to ensure the diligent performance of assigned responsibilities,” the auditors said.

The primary mandate of the Provincial Capitol is to promote the general welfare of its constituents.

“It cannot sacrifice efficiency over the savings of unfilled positions, because in the end, it is the constituents who will suffer the possible negative consequences of having inadequate permanent personnel that could delay the delivery of basic services,” read the COA report.