Creation of new office hits snag

CEBU, Philippines — The Human Resource Development Office (HRDO) of Cebu City Hall has found inconsistencies with the rules and policies of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in the proposed ordinance on the creation of the Land Management Office (LMO).

This comes after the HRDO submitted its position paper on the proposed ordinance "Creating the Cebu City Land Management Office, Defining its Powers and Functions, and Providing for its Organizational Structure and Budget and for Other Purposes."

In their position paper, the HRDO outlined the existing laws and issuances from various government offices regarding the creation of a new office as references for their position.

In line with this, the HRDO stated that it found several inconsistencies with the rules and policies of the CSC and DBM.

Regarding its title, Cebu City LMO, the HRDO noted that the proposed office is not among those enumerated as mandatory, nor even as an optional office or department of the city.

As for the establishment of the office, it was said that placing the proposed office under the Office of the Mayor should not cause confusion or duplicate the functions of existing offices in the local government unit.

To avoid creating positions that would result in duplication of roles, the HRDO recommended modeling the functions of the LMO after those of the Land Management Bureau, which is the policy-making arm of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

"Instead of creating an office which will overlapped with the functions of the General Services Office, the LMO should recommend policies and programs for the efficient and effective administration, surveys, management, acquisition and disposition of real properties owned by the city," an excerpt of the HRDO's position paper reads.

As for the head of the office, the HRDO noted that the position of city land administrator does not exist.

According to them, the highest position under the Office of the Mayor is the assistant department head, and the units under it are considered divisions, each headed by a division chief with salary grade 22.

The HRDO further stated that the functions proposed for the LMO in the ordinance are too broad and might be construed as duplicating the responsibilities of the City Assessor's Office.

They recommended, however, that it could be revised as a Real Property Valuation Section, whose function would be to update the assessment and market value of real properties owned by the Cebu City Government.

The position paper was signed by HRDO chief Henry Tomalabcad and was transmitted to the council during the most recent regular session. —BRP (CEBU NEWS)