Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI
Batasan Hills, Quezon City

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RECEIVED

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SEVENTEENTH CONGRE: Te Jol
First Regular Session av alg

, REGISTRATION UNIT
HOUSE BILL No. 6) BILLS AND INDEX SERVICE

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Introduced by ACT Teachers Party-List
Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO and Rep. FRANCISCA L. CASTRO

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The practice of hiring public school teachers and higher education teaching
personnel on contracts of service or job orders is all too common. Local
governments, the Department of Education (DepEd), and public higher education
institutions resort to this practice primarily to deal with growing student enrolments
in the context of acute shortages of regular teaching items funded by the national
budget.

Contract of service or service contract refers to the engagement by a
government agency of the services of a person to undertake a specific work or job
requiring special or technical skills not available in the agency, to be accomplished
within a specific period not exceeding one year. Job order refers to a contract
whereby a worker is hired by a government agency to do a piece of work or
intermittent job of short duration not exceeding six (6) months, and paid on a daily
or hourly basis.

There are currently around 600,000 teachers, hired in such a manner, working
at all levels of our public education system. As of August 2011, local governments
hired 49,530 teachers, most of them through contracts of service or job orders, to
augment the DepEd’s regular teaching force. The DepEd itself hired 19,063
“volunteer teachers” for its Kindergarten program, all of them on one year contracts
of service. According to the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges,
there are 14,312 part-time faculty (27.91% of the total faculty) in 90 surveyed state


universities and colleges (SUCs) during the academic year (AY) 2012-2013. A
significant portion of these are on contracts of service or job orders even though
they perform the same tasks as regular faculty. A similar survey in the previous AY
revealed that part-timers were 48.14% of the teaching force in 103 SUCs.

Having no employer-employee relationship with the institutions that hired
them, teachers on contracts of service or job orders experience exploitative and
discriminatory compensation, benefits, and working conditions. Although possessing
the same qualifications as their regularly-employed counterparts, they receive lower
pay, enjoy none of the benefits, have no job security, and are deprived of their right
to unionize. DepEd’s “volunteer” kindergarten teachers receive a measly
honorarium from P3,000 to P6,000 per month. Locally-paid teachers earn as little as
P275 per day or P5,000 per month, while university instructors on contracts of
service or job orders typically earn around P8,500 a month. They are also denied
benefits such as Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA), Cost of Living
Allowance (COLA), Representation and Transportation Allowance (RATA), midyear
bonus, productivity incentive, Christmas bonus and cash gifts, and the social security
coverage provided by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and
PhilHealth. Having no security of tenure, they are often rehired on the same terms,
year in and year out.

Hiring teachers through contracts of service or job orders is contrary to Article
XIV, Section 5(5) of the 1987 Constitution (“the State shall...ensure that teaching will
attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate
remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment”) and existing laws,
including Republic Act 4670 (The Magna Carta of Public School Teachers) that are
intended to protect the status of the teaching profession.

This bill prohibits the hiring of teachers at all levels through contracts of
service or job orders to carry out the duties and functions of regular teaching staff,
with the exception of faculty in post-secondary education institutions where the
required highly specialized or technical expertise cannot be provided by the regular
teaching staff. This measure also imposes the administrative sanction of dismissal
from the public service with cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement
benefits, and the perpetual disqualification for reemployment in the government
service on any government official or employee who violates said prohibition.

Approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

Rep. ANTONTO L. TINIO Rep. FRANCISCA/P. CASTRO
ACT Teachers Party-List AGF Teachersarty-list


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Batasan Hills, Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

60
HOUSE BILL No.

Introduced by ACT Teachers Party-List
Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO and Rep. FRANCISCA L. CASTRO

AN ACT
PROHIBITING THE HIRING OF TEACHERS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
THROUGH CONTRACTS OF SERVICE OR JOB ORDERS

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Definitions. - Contract of service or service contract refers to the
engagement by a government agency of the services of a person to undertake a
specific work or job requiring special or technical skills not available in the agency, to
be accomplished within a specific period not exceeding one (1) year.

Job order refers to a contract whereby a worker is hired by a government
agency to do piece work or intermittent job of short duration not exceeding six (6)
months, and paid on a daily or hourly basis.

In either case, the contracts do not establish an employer-employee
relationship, services rendered are not considered government service, and the
worker therefore does not enjoy the benefits enjoyed by government employees,
such as Personnel Economic Relief Allowance, Cost of Living Allowance,
Representation and Transportation Allowance, midyear bonus, productivity
incentive, Christmas bonus, and cash gifts.

For purposes of this Act, contracts of service and job orders shall include
similar arrangements, regardless of designation, where no employer-employee


relationship exists between the hiring agency and the worker.

SECTION 2. Coverage. — This Act shall apply to teachers employed in public schools
in the kindergarten, elementary, and secondary levels, as well as in public post-
secondary education institutions, including State Universities and Colleges (SUCs),
Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs), and technical vocational schools.

SECTION 3. Prohibition. - No teacher shall be hired to carry out the duties and
functions of regular teaching staff, either on a full-time or part-time basis, through
contracts of service or job orders, Provided, that post-secondary education
institutions requiring teachers with highly specialized or technical expertise, which
cannot be provided by their regular teaching staff, are exempt from the prohibition
on contracts of service.

SECTION 4. Administrative Liability. - Any government official or employee who
violates the previous section shall be dismissed from the service with cancellation of
eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and the perpetual disqualification for
reemployment in the government service.

SECTION 5. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Department of Education,
Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority, and Department of Budget and Management shall issue implementing
rules and regulations within thirty (30) days from the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 6. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, resolutions, orders, or ordinances
or parts thereof inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified
accordingly.

SECTION 7. Effective Date. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in one newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,