Regular position eyed for CH casuals

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City government is looking to regularize some long-time casual employees and rehire underperforming job order workers for yet another quarter, with Mayor Michael Rama saying the move is “an intervention from God.”

“After due deliberation, I, as your mayor, (am) granting an omnibus appeal, wholesale appeal for re-hiring (of job order workers) starting October 1, 2022 up to December 31, 2022. Mura ni siyag gitagaan mog executive clemency. Pasabot, tanan na naapil sa ni-appeal kamong tanan,” said Rama during their flag ceremony at the City Hall grounds yesterday.

Rama said that this being an intervention from God, employees who are rehired should already reflect and change for the better.

“Wala man ta nagpuyo sa yawan-ong paagi… Gipasaylo mo pero agi mo og porgatoryo. Magporga mo, mao nang porgatoryo. Ampo, hinulsol, pagbag-o na,” he added.

City Human Resource Development officer Remie Vestil-Mondigo disclosed that at least 660 JOs made an appeal to get renewed after they failed the performance evaluation.

As it stands, all those who appealed are re-hired from October 1 until the end of this year.

Rama said those who did not return to work while still waiting for their appointment papers will just have to file a leave of absence for those times they were out of their respective offices.

Along with this, Rama also announced that the engagement process for the 2023 hiring begins this month to ensure uninterrupted service.

“Nalipay lang mi bisan daghang trabahuon, nga ang tanan (who appealed), ma-renew. Effective October 1. Katong nakapirma na sa October 17 usbon to namo… Katong wa ni report, file-lan lang tog leave or katong ni-report pero wala pa moy appointment, i-justify sa inyong department head,” said Mondigo over Panaghisgot program of the Public Information Office.

Regarding the renewal, Mondigo said they “will make the necessary directive, discussions and announcements.”

“Sa giingon na ni mayor, karong panahona, October to December is for those nga gi-recon na magbag-o or reform para makapasar mo inig January. Katong based on his memo last May 2022, katong dili kawatan, tapulan, intrigero, kana tanan, mag-renew na ta. This is the time for us to reform and do better, kapasar ta sa evaluation for January,” added Mondigo.

Mondigo also disclosed that the City Hall continues to harbor its “rightsizing” plan, although the mayor’s executive secretary, lawyer Collin Rosell, said there is no exact number of employees to be trimmed just yet.

Rosell said they have to revisit the projects where these job orders are to see if their services are still needed.

Mondigo presented a “historical account” of personnel from 1988 to the present, which showed the city government only had job orders at the time of the late mayor Edgardo Labella’s administration in 2019.

In 2019, there were 2,251 job order, 36 contractual, 19 co-terminous, 1,116 permanent, and 3788 casual employees.

In the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, more JOs were noted at 3,396 and it further went up to 5,075 in 2021.

From as many as 10,183 employees, including permanent employees and JOs in 2021, the new Rama administration has been able to cut it down to 7,363 so far.

From over 5,000 JOs, the number is now down to 2,263.

Permanent positions

Mondigo said they are also working on opening permanent positions to the casual employees.

“We will be opening the permanent positions to casuals… Para atong mga casuals ma-regular na sila, especially those pila na katuig,” said Mondigo.

The usual problem for a casual employee to remain in such status is lack of eligibility.

“We have been encouraging our people to take the civil service eligibility exams para pud ang position mag-require og eligibility, naa pud silay eligibility. Mao nay kasagaran nag-hold sa mga staff why they are not promoted or regularized,” she said. – JMD (FREEMAN)