Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Friday clarified the issue which came out during the congressional hearing last August 2 concerning the appointment of former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and volleyball players at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
In a statement, Faeldon said these players are not BOC employees because they were hired under contract of services.
Thus, their services shall not be considered as part of government service under the Bureau, Faeldon said. The contract stated that there is no ‘employer-employee’ relationship between them.
Also, these athletes cannot perform functions that fall within the job description reserved for regular employees.
Faeldon said that apart from sports development activities, the athletes also perform other tasks, such as support services or clerical works at the offices where they are assigned.
The athletes were also contracted because their qualifications matched their role as Technical Assistant for personnel development under the Bureau’s special activities, Faeldon added.
Faeldon said these players were also hired to send a message to the public that the BOC is serious in rebuilding its image in order to reverse public perception of being a corrupt agency.
Faeldon said the athletes are “effective communicators of the bureau’s reforms that is why they were assigned to the committee on personnel development.
“The BOC is known as one of the most corrupt government agencies for more than a century,” the commissioner said. “We must change this perception by convincing the public and encouraging our employees to help reform the agency. We need these players to do that.”
Likewise, the athletes do office works under the supervision of lawyer Roy Lawagan, head of the BOC committee for special activities which organizes various personnel development activities such as fun run, basketball clinic in this bureau. | BOC-PR
The athletes and their contracts under Customs Special Order (CSO) Number 58-2016:
