DOTr employees accuse bosses of rushing Clark transfer

Rambo Talabong

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DOTr employees accuse bosses of rushing Clark transfer
(UPDATED) Department of Transportation employees say they were not consulted properly regarding the big move

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) — Department of Transportation (DOTr) employees accused their bosses on Thursday, July 27, of rushing their office transfer to Clark, Pampanga, which will begin on Friday, July 28.

Their new base is still under construction “with the paint still drying,” making the area unbearable for employees, said DOTr Employees’ Association (DOTCEA) secretary Bobet Salazar. (READ: DOTr moving main office to Clark in July)

“Lilipat na ang mga tao do’n, so paano gagamitin ngayon ‘yung area when it’s still under construction? Kung titingnan talaga natin parang ‘di naman pa talaga ready ang management for the transfer,” Salazar said.

(People will already be sent there, so how will they use the area when it’s still under construction? If you assess the situation, it seems the management is not yet really ready for the transfer.)

DOTr management also supposedly failed to listen to their concerns, pushing through with the move despite protests from employees in the past 6 months.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade supposedly pitched the idea as early as July 2016, but no comprehensive consultations took place. The employees were then surprised when memorandum circulars on the transfer started being issued January 2017.

They told their bosses that they were concerned whether or not they could get enough time to sleep, and whether their transportation expenses would go up.

SILENT PROTEST. DOTr employees wear black ribbons as sign of dissent to the transfer. Photo by Rambo Talabong/Rappler

They also said they would not have enough time left to spend with their families.

“Matagal kang wala sa bahay. Ang tagal ng travel mo tapos walong oras ka sa office. Tapos kapag aalis ka, tulog pa ang mga anak mo tapos pagdating mo tulog na sila,” DOTCEA member Beth Lunzaga said. 

(You’ll be out of the house for most of the day. Your commute would be longer, then you’ll spend 8 hours in the office. When you leave the house your children are still asleep, and by the time you return, they’re already asleep.)

We terminated the dialogue, because we’re getting nowhere. Sa mga issues namin, hindi nasagot ng tama at walang concrete actions (Our issues were not answered, there were no concrete answers),” Salazar also said.

To make adjustment easier, the DOTr had offered employees the option to work in other DOTr attached agencies without demotion.

But Salazar said they cannot “change specialty” and adjust immediately, especially since there are employees who have worked in the DOTr headquarters for as long as 30 years.

Another measure the DOTr set up was starting shuttle services to pick up employees at 5-6 am every day going to Clark.

In a press statement addressing the employees, Tugade said they really need to “make sacrifices” in order to help ease traffic in Metro Manila.

The employees countered, however, that some 700 DOTr employees who work in their office in Ortigas make up an insignificant number when compared to the 10 million residents in the capital region.

Salazar and Lunzaga stressed they do not oppose the transfer per se, but just want it to go through the right process. – Rappler.com

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Rambo Talabong

Rambo Talabong covers the House of Representatives and local governments for Rappler. Prior to this, he covered security and crime. He was named Jaime V. Ongpin Fellow in 2019 for his reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. In 2021, he was selected as a journalism fellow by the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics.