ARMM workers assert tenure rights

COTABATO CITY - Old employees of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) want their constitutional right-to-security-of-tenure upheld, amid imminent takeover by a new administration to run a Bangsamoro Government in the ARMM.A group of ARMM employees said they rushed to Manila on Wednesday to assert their collective rights under the equal-protection clause of the 1987 Constitution, before the marathon hearings of the Bicameral Committee Conference, now almost done on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in ARMM.Once enacted by Congress, the law may be signed into law in time for the Third State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on July 23.Irene Fernandez Gonzales, a former information officer of the ARMM, said she accompanied to assist ARMM Cultural Heritage Director Marites Maguindra in Manila in a bid to talk to every member of the bicameral committee on the welfare of permanent employees. The affected ARMM permanent employees are also stakeholders in the Bangsamoro Region, as much as those working in the basic social services sector, such asand education, health and social welfare, Maguindra said, reading a manifesto signed en-masse by ARMM employees during a Flag Ceremony on Monday.Pending its passage into law, legislators have placed a protective provision on the BBL-ARMM Bill, ensuring the retention of current permanent employees, albeit applicable only to those working under the three social service cluster departmentsand Education, Health and Social Welfare and Development.The group of Maguindra said they wanted to articulate their colleagues’ constitutional right-to-equal-protection-of-law, particularly those representing the economic, infrastructure and governance clusters of the Executive and Legislative Branches of the ARMM Government.Maguindra said the employees particularly wanted to assert their constitutional right to security of tenure, under Article III (Bill of Rights) Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution, and as provided for under Republic Act 6656 (An Act to Protect the Security of Tenure of Civil Service Officers and Employees in Implementation of Reorganization).She said with a provision assuring retention of employees holding permanent status of appointments, but only limited to three regional departments, nearly 8,000 employees out of more than 33,000 current ARMM employees could be facing imminent displacement from work. The ARMM employees who are experienced, skilled and trained to uphold the bureaucratic standards, system and processes are the backbone of the now reformed and performing ARMM Regional Government, said the manifesto, which was also ceremonially signed by workers on a life-size tarpaulin hung by the façade of the ARMM Executive Building. We the affected ARMM permanent employees, representing the economic, infrastructure and governance sectors in the Executive and Legislative Branches of the ARMM Government seriously and strongly demand for the full and unconditional absorption of ARMM employees (holding permanent employees) with the incoming Bangsamoro in ARMM, in accordance with existing laws and Supreme Court (Jurisprudence) that protect the right and security of tenure of employees of the Philippine government, including the existing ARMM, the manifesto said.