18 MAY 2018, MANILA—The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is empowering all its outsourced personnel to compete with other qualified applicants in all its entry level and technical positions this year.
The initiative is in preparation for the full implementation of a Joint Memorandum Order among three (3) government agencies namely: Civil Service Commission (CSC), Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), requiring all government agencies to restrict the need of hiring outsourced personnel at the start of 2019.
By virtue of the joint order, all outsourced personnel presently occupying vacant plantilla positions in PPA will be given priority provided they possess the needed eligibility requirements.
Currently, PPA has about 1,192 outsourced personnel spread over its Corporate Office and its 25 other Port Management Offices nationwide. Seventy three (73) percent of which are not equipped with the needed eligibility requirements.
PPA General Manager Atty. Jay Daniel R. Santiago directed the Human Resource Management Department to exert all efforts in assisting all outsourced personnel in attaining the necessary CS Eligibility.
“Online review materials and sample exams for Civil Service examinations are provided for specific subject matters, which were identified earlier as ‘weak points’ of personnel in the CS Eligibility exams,” Santiago added.
HRMD Manager, Atty. Mark Jon S. Palomar, stressed that while outsourced personnel are not directly employed by the Authority, they have been a part of the PPA family on the performance of its function and PPA recognizes its part in helping them improve their skills and capacities.
HRMD, in partnership with the Information and Communication Technology Department (ICTD), installed and launched an open-sourced platform where online modules and courses are uploaded and made available to participants.
Atty. Palomar pointed out that the new e-learning platform is developed to optimize the review of outsourced personnel and training requirements of regular employees. Civil Service reviewers and sample exams are currently uploaded in the site where prospective examinees from the pool of PPA outsourced personnel can access it in their most convenient time using mobile, tablets and laptops to prepare themselves.
The innovative team headed by Atty. Palomar and program administrator, Elizabeth De Jesus, envisioned the Learning Management System (LMS) to address not only competency gaps but as an effective alternative to career development.
“We will be providing them with internet-based certified training at no cost to PPA by utilizing a universal free-ware wherein all concerned personnel can acquire the training hours required by certain positions,” Santiago said.
“Keeping in mind that the PPA has an ageing management team, the new platform will likewise be aligned to the Authority’s management succession plan,” Atty. Palomar added. “That is to have a well-equipped, competent and management-ready generation of personnel.”
Aside from the CSC review materials and sample exams, the CDD Team is also in the process of collating training materials from local and foreign scholarship grantees. The developed modules will be uploaded in LMS where employees will have access to. The LMS is designed as learning and development intervention, as well as, an assessment and diagnostic tool.
Once uploaded in LMS, target PPA employees will be able to access the modules and benefit from it without them having to travel, thus reducing training cost.
With these initiatives, PPA gears toward being the first government agency to implement online learning platform accessible to all employees without any cost.
As of the moment, the HRMD is coordinating with the CSC on a possible schedule of CSE schedule for PPA outsourced personnel on July and November of 2018.
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