Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I. INTRODUCTION
The Human Resource (HR) Office, headed by the Human Resource Management Officer
(HRMO) under the Administrative Services of every Division Office, plays a major role in
providing secretariat services to various Human Resource Management and Development
(HRMD) committees concerning 1st and 2nd level employees. It also looks into personnel
benefits and responses to queries on HRMD matters. Moreover, the HR Office takes part in the
other relevant HR processes in the Division Office such as planning, forecasting, selection,
evaluation and promotion.
HR issues and challenges are very common among Division Offices. These challenges
which range from the job posting to screening could make or break our chances of finding our
ideal hires. In fact, bad hiring decisions due to a poor recruitment and selection process have
impacts that may extend to inefficiency and low performance among the schools and offices. In
worse scenarios, lapses in following the guidelines of the selection process may cause trouble
like losing jobs among employees brought by disapproval of their appointments.
II. BACKGROUND
DepEd, Division of Tangub City was first created as an Interim Division in June 2003.
On February 2008, through an order duly signed by the Secretary of Education Jesli A. Lapus,
the Interim Division of Tangub City became a full-fledged Division in Region 10. It is classified
as a small division. Ms. Jean G. Veloso, Officer-In-Charge to the Office of the Schools
Division Superintendent, assumed Office on January 3, 2018 until present. As of June 2019, the
division has 862 teaching personnel and 62 non-teaching personnel serving the 18,000 leaners.
When the HR Office has identified any available position, it shall submit a Request for
Publication of Vacant Positions to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) with the following
information: Position Title, Plantilla Item No., Salary Grade, Monthly Salary, Qualification
Standards, and the Place of Assignment. The HR Office follows the following Deped Orders:
The selection process is undertaken by the Personnel Selection Board (PSB) spearheaded
by the Assistant Schools Division Superintendent with the Education Program Supervisors or
Specialists, President of the DepEd Employees’ Union, Administrative Officer V, and the
Administrative Officer II (HRMO I) as members.
III. PROBLEM
An HR challenge greeted the new Officer In-Charge to the Office of the Schools Division
Superintendent upon her assumption of Office on January 3, 2018. One of her first three clients
who were male teachers asked her, “Ma’am, unsaon nako pag ingon akong asawa nga wala na
koy trabaho karon adlawa?” (Ma’am, how can I tell my wife that today, I no longer have a job?)
It was so heartbreaking for them that two of the three male teachers cried as they expressed their
worries and sentiments.
Instantly, the OIC-SDS replied, “Go back to your school and take care of our learners, I
will take care of you. You will not lose your job. That’s a promise.” But at the back of her
mind, she couldn’t figure out yet how she was going to fulfill the promise she made out of
surprise, heartbreak, and sympathy to the teachers.
The challenges were huge that when not acted upon appropriately and immediately could
result to more complicated problems like teachers losing their job and leaving behind learners
without teachers to take care of them.
For school year 2016-2017, the Division of Tangub City incurred 45 disapproved
appointments: 31 appointments of the teaching personnel and 14 appointments of the non-
teaching personnel. The CSC had seen grounds and inconsistency of the applicants’ documents
like the lack of parenthetical title, lack of performance rating, lack of relevant experience and
training, and the inappropriate eligibility, which led to disapproval of their appointments. Please
see Table 1.
Table 1: List of Disapproved Appointments by the CSC Field Office of the Teaching Personnel
Of the 31 disapproved appointments of the Teaching Personnel, there were three (3) items from Elementary,
specifically two Teacher 1 and one Teacher II. There were 18 items from the Senior High School which include ten Teacher I
and eight Teacher II. There were also ten Junior High School items which include seven Teacher I, two Teacher III and one
Head Teacher I. The problem became more complicated when the eight SHS Teachers whose appointments to Teacher II
were disapproved had no more item to land on. The Teacher items they left were already given to Teacher I applicants whose
appointments had been approved earlier than the release of the disapproved appointments of the former.
On screening the applicants, the Personnel Selection Board would ask for their
performance rating. The performance rating of the applicants for the last three (3) rating
periods prior to screening should be at least Very Satisfactory. Eight appointments were
disapproved due to lack of performance rating.
Moreover, in order for the applicant to get 10 points for the training he/she must
have participated in one relevant training conducted for at least ten days. Out of 31
disapproved appointments, the CSC was able to identify 2 appointments that failed to meet
the required relevant training.
Items for Employee 9, Employee 24, and Employee 25 were reclassified from
Teacher I to Teacher III. On thorough checking, these employees were never issued an
appointment as Teacher I. The CSC Field Office found it strange for HR Office to award
the reclassed items to these employees where in fact said original appointments were not
possessed by these employees in the first place.
Under DepEd Order No. 66, s. 2007 (Revised Guidelines on the Appointment and
Promotion of Other Teaching, Related Teaching and Non-Teaching Positions), employee
must be promoted after at least 3 rating period. With this, appointment of Employee 30
was disapproved.
Four appointments were just anchored on the disapproval of the other items.
Table 2: List of Disapproved Appointments by the CSC Field Office of the Non-Teaching Personnel
Provided in the Memorandum Circular No. 10 s. 2005 (Administrative Positions in the Administrative Services Group
under the General Administrative Service of the Position Classification Plan), applicants for the position of Administrative
Assistant II must have 1 year of relevant experience and 4 hours of relevant training as a minimum qualification standard.
Eight employees were disapproved by the CSC Field Office due to failure to meet the relevant experience and the number of
hours of relevant trainings required for the position.
The in-charge at the HR Office failed to indicate the parenthetical title of the
position and merely used the generic Administrative Assistant II in appointing the said
employees. Looking into the qualification standards for Administrative Assistant II, the
employees met the education, training, and eligibility required for the position. However,
there was an issue regarding their experience. Since there was no parenthetical title
indicated in the appointment, the duties indicated in the Position Description Form should
be considered in determining the actual position of the appointees. In order for their
relevant experience to be considered, the experiences of the employees must be
functionally related thereto.
The HR Office promptly filled up all the available items. As a result, all the schools were
provided with enough teachers to take care of the learners in every class. The issues came out
when the HRMO was not able to check all the appointments and supporting documents before
submitting them to the CSC Field Office. Moreover, the PSB must not have screened the
applicants strictly that a number of them did not meet the minimum qualification standard. That
time, there was no Assistant Superintendent yet to lead the PSB. Instead, one of the chiefs acted
as the chairman of the PSB. What made the problem more complicated was that, after these
issues came out in 2017, the HRMO holding Administrative Officer IV position was reassigned
to another Office for reasons not limited to mitigating/controlling more problems to happen. An
Administrative Officer I was doing the job of the HRMO. She was efficient, though she needed
guidance, assistance and close supervision due to the complexity of the problem at the HR
Office.
IV. SOLUTION
The Human Resource is the most important among all the needed resources to operate an
Office. With this premise, the OIC-SDS made this HR challenge a top priority with urgency,
gravity, and high importance. The following were the steps done for speedy solution of the
issues:
One after the other, the decisions of the disapproved appointments were released, in time that whenever the disapproval was
affirmed, there was an available item for every employee to land on as he/she was reemployed. After eight months of carefully
employing strategies in solving the issues along with close coordination with the CSC Field and Regional Offices, all the disapproved
appointments including those on appeal were settled. As desired, no employee lost his/her job and no class was left behind without a
teacher to take care of. Please see Table 5.
As to the HRMO/ Administrative Officer IV in-charge of the Personnel Section from 2015 to 2017, she submitted a
letter of intent to be transferred to the school as Head Teacher. Based on her records, her expertise was at leading teachers as she was
the dean in a local college within the city. After the conduct of the selection process, she was appointed as Head Teacher II with
parallel salary grade to Administrative Officer IV. The Administrative Officer I took the vacated position as Administrative Officer
IV and is currently leading the HR Office with competence and efficiency.
Table 5: Action Taken to Disapproved Appointments which Disapproval was affirmed by the Regional Office
VI. CONCLUSION
The HR Office headed by the HRMO is a very important unit in the Office whose efficiency and effectiveness is essential in
the promotion of the department’s mission. On the other hand, its carelessness and incompetence can cause numerous problems
affecting the operations and performance of the school and the division as a whole.
The appointments stated above were disapproved due to lack of parenthetical title, lack of performance rating, lack of relevant
experience and training, inappropriate eligibility, and some technical errors. These could have been prevented when the responsible
persons at the HR Office were careful and mindful of their actions. On a positive note, DepEd Tangub City considered the problem as
a learning experience and an avenue to improve the services of the HR Office and the Division Office as a whole.
With the guidance of the Almighty Father, DepEd Tangub City handled well the challenging situation which resulted to
overcoming the problems with flying colors. In a matter of eight months, all of the issues regarding disapproved appointments were
settled constructively. It is amazing that the bold promise made (without thorough thinking) by the OIC-SDS was fulfilled. None of
the employees lost his/her means of livelihood and no class was left without a teacher.
VII. RECOMMENDATIONS
The PSB and the HRMO including all the employees in the HR Office must be well-
capacitated about the guidelines and procedures of the screening, selection, and
hiring processes;
DepEd and CSC must establish partnership in ensuring efficient and effective
selection and hiring activities and in promoting employees’ welfare;
The PSB must see to it that the selection lineup/ rank list submitted to the appointing
officer is a result of a careful selection process following the guidelines; and
Before submitting the appointments for approval to the CSC Field Office, the PSB
must double check the documents as to correctness of the entries and completeness of
the supporting papers.
DELMA R. DENAPO
Administrative Officer IV / Writer
Attested by:
JEAN G. VELOSO
OIC – Schools Division Superintendent
VIII. REFERENCES
Hiring Guidelines for Senior High School (SHS) Teaching Positions Effective School Year (SY) 2016-2017.
(n.d.). Retrieved from Department of Education: http://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/DO_s2016_03.pdf
Hiring Guidelines for Teacher I Positions Effective School Year (SY) 2015-2016. (n.d.). Retrieved from
Department of Education Marikina City:
https://depedmarikina.ph/docs/app_elig/DO_s2015_07.pdf
Hiring Guidelines for Teacher I Positions Effective School Year 2015-2016. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://depedmarikina.ph/docs/app_elig/DO_s2015_07.pdf
Kinsey, A. (2019, March 28). The Importance of the Recruitment & Selection Process. Retrieved from
bizfluent: https://bizfluent.com/info-7957387-importance-recruitment-selection-process.html
Leonard, K. (2019, January 28). Importance of Effective Recruitment & Selection. Retrieved from Chron:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-effective-recruitment-selection-55782.html
Llego, M. A. (n.d.). Revised Guidelines on the Appointment and Promotion of other Teaching , Related
Teaching, and Non-Teaching Positions. Retrieved from TeacherPH:
https://www.teacherph.com/appointment-non-teaching-positions/
Pestano, T. (2017, December 6). 8 HR Issues to address and resolve before the year ends. Retrieved from
Manila Recruitment: https://manilarecruitment.com/manila-recruitment-articles-advice/hr-
issues-address-resolve/
Processes in Human Resource Management. (2019). Retrieved from Management Study Guide:
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/processes-in-human-resource-management.htm