As other workers struggle to find a stable source of income since the pandemic began, 50-year-old security guard Joseph Luntabo can be considered as a lucky exemption. He continued with his daily 12-hour duty at the School of Labor and Industrial Relations in UP Diliman amid the lockdown and earned enough to feed his family and pay their bills. That is, at least before the unexpected announcement that he will be discharged from his duty.

On April 1, Luntabo and almost 80 of his other colleagues were caught off guard after UP Diliman’s new security contractor, Grand Meritus Security Agency, refused to rehire them. They were formerly under Northcom Security Agency before its contract lapsed and was not renewed. While some had already been absorbed by the new agency, 61 of them remain out of work and have not earned anything for two weeks due to their “no work, no pay” condition. 

“Nung sinabi sa amin na kinabukasan iba na yung magdu-duty, wala na po akong magawa,” Luntabo shared. He had been serving the university since 2005. His first assignment was at the university’s entry and exit portals, where he stayed for more than four years. After that, he was stationed at various buildings on campus, such as the Vargas Museum, the Office of the University Registrar, and Malcolm Hall.

Now, with his livelihood in jeopardy, as well as the other guards’, some of whom have been serving the campus for more than two decades, Luntabo and his co-workers demand an explanation from UP as to why they could not be rehired, and why the administration failed to inform them of their retrenchment in advance.

Bidding Process

Following Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, the bidding for the university’s security is supervised by the University’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), headed by the vice chancellor for research and development, and composed of at least four other members who represent the university’s legal and financial offices, as well as provisional ones who come from other UP units.

The process is done annually through a “competitive bidding,” where the bidding process is openly participated in by any interested party, or in this case, various security agencies. They will submit to the BAC pertinent documents, including, but not limited to, the details on their bidding amounts. This will be the primary consideration for winning bidders, wherein the lowest bidders are given priority.

Winning bidders conduct a screening period to determine who they will hire, including the guards currently hired by the incumbent security agency. For the old guards, endorsement from their building supervisors and superiors is a great advantage, apart from having an outstanding work record.

But this time, some guards who submitted their letters of recommendation were still not considered for absorption by Grand Meritus, according to the Alliance of Contractual Employees in UP (ACE UP).

“Hindi masaya yung guards. Sinasabi nila na bakit di kinilala ang endorsement, bakit napawalang-bahala na lang ang serbisyo nila sa UP?” ACE UP’s Steph Andaya said.

While not prescribed by law, it is the practice of winning security contractors in UP Diliman to absorb most of the guards of the previous agency, All UP Workers Union Diliman Chapter President Buboy Cabrera said. It was only with the entry of Grand Meritus that this tradition was broken.

“Noon pa, pinu-push namin na malagay sa kontrata na dapat 100 percent absorbed. Sabi nila, iligal yan kasi tinatali mo yung kamay ng mga nanalo [na security agency]. Ang mangyayari, sila [ang UP] ang mananagot nun,” Cabrera explained.

Meanwhile, Chief Security Officer (CSO) Atty. John Baroña insisted that UP is not involved in the selection and screening process for hiring security guards. In an email to the Collegian, he said the winning security agency has the final decision as to who they will employ.

Further Burden

The retrenched personnel expressed their disappointment with the unannounced decision, saying that they were not notified of their termination, either by university officials or their security agency. Under the Labor Code, employers must serve a written notice to employees at least one month prior to their termination.

For now, since Luntabo has not been receiving any income from the university, his family primarily depends on the salary of his wife, who also works as a security guard in another agency. While her earnings are enough to feed their family of six, there are still other bills to pay, such as water, electricity, and internet for her daughter’s online classes.

“Sa pangkain, okay naman [yung kinikita ni misis]. Kaya lang, sa mga ibang bayarin, kulang na kulang,” Luntabo said.

The guards doubt that they can get a new job, mainly because a number of them are already over the age of 40. They are also concerned about the impacts of the pandemic on businesses, which may not be open to hiring new employees.

It also did not help that their former agency, Northcom, has not yet paid them for their last rendered service. They even went to the agency’s office on April 10 but to no avail. They were told that the office cannot yet disburse their wages due to the reinstated lockdown and a surge in COVID-19 cases among their employees.

The guards also did not receive any form of assistance from the university, as they were technically “not employees of UP,” according to Baroña. He said that should there be any aid, it will be very limited. The most that they can do is to endorse them to the new security agency for absorption.

Assurance From Admin

On April 16, ACE UP and All UP Workers Alliance held a dialogue with Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo and Baroña regarding the request of the retrenched security personnel to return to work. Nemenzo expressed his support for a “maximum absorption” of guards in UP, and also tasked Baroña to coordinate with Grand Meritus for the immediate reinstatement of the 61 displaced security personnel, as well as to follow up on the delayed salary from Northcom.

The UP Diliman Public Safety and Security Office is also eyeing the possibility of absorbing some guards into the Special Services Brigade, although Baroña says that they will still need to study the option. ACE UP, along with other workers’ unions, also expressed their request to be included in the process of crafting the Terms of Reference for contractual employees.

A memo obtained by ACE UP on April 26 reported that 37 of the retrenched guards will be able to resume work by the end of April, after the negotiations between UP officials and Grand Meritus. The group also announced that Northcom has promised to process the guards’ unpaid salaries for March as soon as their office operations return to normal.

The news was a welcome development for guards like Luntabo. “Nagpapasalamat kami, kasi nagkaroon ng paglilinaw yung [kahilingan] namin,” he said.

In a Facebook post on April 26, ACE UP said that they consider the successful reinstatement of the 37 guards a “small victory,” but reiterates that they will continue to urge the UP administration to consider the remaining security personnel who are still out of a job, and to provide financial assistance to the guards for the period that they were not able to work. They also called for the UP administration to give the guards their hazard pay, as well as to regularize them. 

Luntabo and the rest of the guards hope to report again to work soon, and with it be able to provide for their families. “Sana makabalik po kami sa duty. Yung ibang mga kasamahan ko nga, mga wala silang ibang inaasahan kasi sila lang talaga yung nagtatrabaho. Sana po makabalik po talaga sa trabaho kasi wala na po talagang makain,” Luntabo pleaded. ●