100 temporary workers in Mandaue lose jobs

CEBU, Philippines - More than one hundred job order employees of Mandaue City Hall lost their jobs last July when the city government did not renew their appointments on account of a trimmed down budget.

City treasurer Regal Oliva said too many employees in a department causes redundancy and inefficiency.

"Every year naa tay budget para anang JO's but in the middle of the year mahurot na dayon ang budget gumikan sa kadaghan sa atong JO's," Oliva said.

He said that the hiring of job order employees has no limit as its budget for their salaries is taken from the monthly Operating Expenses (MOE) of each department and not from personnel services.

He said the hiring of job orders must also correspond to the jobs or projects available so that the city can maximize its manpower.

The city now thinks that so much money is being spent on salaries for job orders, he said.

"That is why it has decided to trim down their number and use the money for other basic services," he said.

Human Resource Management Office chief Michelle Yu said job orders are distributed to 36 departments and sections of city hall.

Yu said the workers are evaluated by department heads according to the criteria set by her office and the appointments of those who fail the evaluation are no longer renewed.

"It's a self-regulation on the part of the city aron nga mapaigo ang budget for the year," Yu said.

The city has 2,000 job order employees while only 598 are regular employees.

Job order employees are paid P254 per day for 22 days.

However, an employee who refuses to be named, said that she doubts if the number of job order employees will decrease because time and again most of them come back with the help of influential people.

"Sige lagi daw ug panaktak apan makabalik man gihapon tungod sa mga backer busa managko ang ulo anang mga JO's kay naay gisaligan. Busa way pulos ang grading system," the employee said . 

However, city administrator James Abadia said that for humanitarian reasons, the city re-hires some of these workers if they had performed well previously. - THE FREEMAN