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| Workers and agency representatives transact business at Polo's counters on Feb 3 |
Business was “normal” at the Philippine Overseas Labor
Office on Feb 3, the first day that staff had to revert to the manual
processing of work contracts after the automated system they had used for 13
years went out of service.
The return to manual processing had not much impact at the
Polo counters because the front-line staff had been prepared for it,
Office-in-Charge Antonio Villafuerte said.
“Normal ang situation sa
Polo, but it is the agencies that are complaining. Nahihirapan daw sila sa
pag-type ng mga data na kailangan sa form,” Villafuerte said.
The decision to go manual again came from the Department of
Labor and Employment in the Philippines
Villafuerte said Polo staff had been briefed ahead of time
for the switch back to manual processing, so they were prepared for the task
before them.
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| Villafuerte says paperwork is voluminous but work is faster with manual processing |
He also said that doing things manually could speed up the
process as attachments are checked and rejected right away, then sent back to
the agency if something was missing.
But the workload is more voluminous because all the
documents have to be submitted for checking.
In the EmployEasy system, agencies sent forms and documents
online, and staff who’d go through them afterwards could reject the incomplete
ones, extending the processing time to four days. With the manual way,
documents are checked instantly, cutting the processing time to just three
days.
But agencies still use the form for EmployEasy submission as
guides when they type in their codes and entries. Then they print out a
transmittal form, which contains the list of contracts to be submitted for the day.
About this time last year, former Labor Attaché Jalilo dela
Torre signed a contract with a new technology company, Polaris Tools Ltd, to
replace employEasy, which was deemed no longer efficient and secure for
contract submissions.
Under the deal, Polo would not spend a single cent as
Polaris would copy the old system’s way of billing the agencies for using the
system, including the added feature of tracking their employment visa
applications at Immigration Department.
Polo, on the other hand, would have acquired a system that
allowed it to keep track of agency violations, and an employers’ blacklist that
was updated automatically.
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| Ex-Labatt dela Torre signed the deal with Polaris with welfare officer Marivic Clarin (right) as witness |
Despite this, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III called the
contract with Polaris a “midnight deal” entered into illegally by Labatt Dela
Torre because no bidding was involved.
But Labatt dela Torre has always denied the allegation,
saying bidding was not required as the contract was at no cost to the
government. Despite this, he said he formed a vetting team that chose Polaris
from among several groups that were asked to make a presentation of their
respective systems.
He also said employEasy had a conflict of interest as it was
also the registered owner of an employment agency.
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