Tommy to retaliate vs Alvin’s men, readies massive layoff

CEBU CITY — Massive layoffs of casual employees at City Hall will signal the start of the administration of mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña.

This would mean casual employees who are appointees of outgoing Mayor Alvin Garcia do not have much to look forward to in terms of keeping their jobs.

"Let me remind you that when I became mayor in 1988, I did not fire the followers of Boy Cuenco. But I noticed last year Alvin Garcia fired my followers in City Hall. He’s the one who has set the bomb," Osmeña said.

The mayor-elect said he was amazed to find that the city government has so many unnecessary employees. Their salaries, he said, could have been better translated to buying medicine for the people.

Osmeña also alleged that many City Hall employees had "bought" their jobs. Backers, he said, were paid P10,000 to P15,000 by some employees to be able to get a job.

Some also pay P7,000 to get promoted, Osmeña alleged.

The mayor-elect said this was the reason why most of the employees were hard to discipline.

Cebu City has about 5,000 employees of whom 3,000 are casuals.

"What are thousands of people doing there? I don’t think City Hall needs so many employees. You can see the service naman. Even in the barangays, you cannot see their services. As a general rule, I don’t like to see people in City Hall. I want them on the field," Osmeña told reporters.

Last year, Councilor Firmo Dayao, chairman of the organizational and management appraisal committee, announced the non-renewal of the employment contracts of some 200 "undesirable and unproductive" casual employees.

Most of the casual employees whose contracts were not renewed were identified with Osmeña. Garcia has denied allegations the non-renewal of their contracts was politically motivated.

But Osmeña insisted the act was tainted with politics, that Garcia had been vindictive since their relationship soured in 1998.

Osmeña admitted there will be political accommodations under his administration. — Freeman News Service