Residential lots at DA only for priority employees

Only employees who are on call will be allowed to occupy residential spaces within the properties of the Regional Field Unit-7 of the Department of Agriculture.

Renerio Zeta, RFU-7 administrative officer said only DA employees whose jobs require them to be available 24 hours are among the first priority of employees to be given spaces within their properties.

Zeta said their agency is currently drafting specific provisions of the regulation that allow DA employees to reside within their premises.

Jobs that are on and highly in demand like those that are in breeding centers will be given a priority, this would mean that the said employee is not originally from Cebu City or Mandaue as in the case of the Mandaue Experiment Station properties, and that it would be beneficial if he or she will reside nearby.

Zeta said other than them, high ranking officials of DA who are also not residents of the place will also get priority.

The new provisions, Zeta said, were the result of a recent audit observation by the Commission on Audit on illegal occupants within their properties.

Zeta said they had dealt with the said illegal occupants humanely since these people were of use to the agency for many years, but because they retired, their occupancy now becomes illegal.

Only one of the eight illegal occupants remains, but Zeta assured he will vacate by the end of this year.

DA legal division head Samuel Dinoy said they had earlier sent out notices to vacate which were taken positively by the families of the retirees.

Except for one occupant in MES who vowed not to vacate the place, Dinoy said all the rest were solved.

The residence of the illegal occupant in MES was, however, gutted by a fire during the middle of this year, giving DA the opportunity to fence the entire area. - Ferliza C. Contratista