Former Philmech Workers Call for Probe on Reorganization of Philmech

Previous employees and officials of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) have asked for an investigation into the “ongoing row” between the agency and its current key and chief officials.

With an open letter, the former employees and officials, which include two former heads of PhilMech, have voiced out their concerns with regard to the state of affairs of the agency at present.

The employees have mentioned that their issues come from concerns stemming from obtained tractors in 2022 which have alleged issues with pricing.

This open letter was signed by 26 former PhilMech employees which range from retired directors to division chiefs and administrative assistants. Former PhilMech Directors Raul R. Paz and Rex L. Bingabing are among the signatories.

This open letter had been circulated in the media.

“We were later glad when the media reported that Director IV [Dionisio G. Alvindia] retracted his statements in which such a misdeed was not done. Thus, we were dismayed when four PhilMech officials were placed on preventive suspension because of their participation in the said procurement which was earlier cleared of anomaly,”  mentioned the letter.

Past employees have likewise expressed concern over the status of various key Philmech officials that were placed on “floating status”. These officials were replaced by “junior staff”. Among these included division chiefs.

“Thus, 9 out of 11 Divisions (including the two Divisions vacated by the earlier resignation of 2 division chiefs) are presently run by acting chiefs,”

“While we do not wish to malign the capability of any of these newly designated personnel, we do like to ask for clarity on what prompted such a drastic overhaul of the existing leadership structure of the agency.” penned the open letter.

Source: Business Mirror