Imee Marcos grills Sharon Garin over DOE's 2-day onsite work setup

Senator Imee Marcos on Monday criticized the Department of Energy (DOE) over its two-day onsite workweek amid the fuel crisis. 

Marcos, during a hearing of the Senate PROTECT Committee, said some oil stakeholders and companies were complaining about DOE's work setup.

“Ang daming nagrereklamo, wala raw silang mahagilap sa DOE-PNOC for the approval of contracts…Namamatay na ‘yung tao sa gutom, hindi na makapag-hanapbuhay. Wala nang ani, wala nang pagkain, at ang DOE ay nagbabakasyon?” the senator said.

(A lot of stakeholders are complaining. They do not know whom to turn to for the approval of the contracts. Filipinos are reeling from the crisis, with some getting hungry and losing their livelihood. They have no harvest, food and the DOE is on vacation?)

The Energy Department has shifted to a hybrid work system as part of its energy-saving measures amid the fuel crisis. From five days, the DOE cut its onsite work to two days, with the remaining workdays under a work-from-home arrangement. 

DOE Secretary Sharon Garin defended the policy, saying the flexible work arrangement did not affect the efficiency of the department. 

“Work from home doesn’t mean we don’t work. We work every day. We meet every day, even on weekends. We never stopped, actually, for eight weeks already,” she told the Senate panel. 

Garin likewise underscored that work in the DOE remains uninterrupted and that their commitments are being delivered on time despite the shortened onsite workdays. 

“Hindi kami nagbabakasyon. We work very, very hard,” she said. “All our undersecretaries have individual assignments. Sa power, inaayos ang power. On the supply side, non-stop ang paghahanap ng supplier. On enforcement, our offices, even though wala kaming tao pinupuntahan lahat ng mga reklamo.”

(We are not on vacation. We work very, very hard. All our undersecretaries have individual assignments. We are fixing the power supply, finding suppliers non-stop and act on complaints.)

“It’s not stopping the work. Our efficiency is even higher now despite the fact that we are WFH…We are doing everything on time. If there are applications, our frontliners are there,” she added. 

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate panel, urged the DOE to revisit the work arrangement. Senator Joel Villanueva expressed the same sentiments. 

“We will revisit. We are pushing for energy efficiency for everyone…We’re pushing for efficiency on electricity as well as in fuel. Everybody has to practice this behavior,” Garin added. 

Last month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that four-day work week would be temporarily be implemented in offices under the executive department as part of the government’s call to save energy resources amid the conflict in the Middle East. —AOL, GMA News