Photo Release

Villanueva questions DA on 3,566 unfilled positions: Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva urges the Department of Agriculture (DA) to inform the chamber if it is encountering challenges in filling the vacant positions within the agency. During the Finance Subcommittee B hearing on the proposed 2024 budget of the DA and its attached agencies, Villanueva noted that the agency’s unfilled positions increased from 3,451 in 2021 to 3,566 in 2023, and the figure will remain unchanged in 2024. On the other hand, Villanueva said the DA has a total of 5,765 job order and contract of service personnel. “What would you feel if you were one of the 5,765 job order personnel. Would you be able to sleep at night or pray, hoping that the numbers would somehow change in the next two years? Is there a chance to change it?” Villanueva asked Thursday, October 5, 2023. DA Undersecretary for Administration Jane Bacayo replied that the DA is in the process of filling up the positions and assured the chamber that a substantial number of vacant positions will be occupied by next year. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)