Davao City quizzed on hiring of contractuals

DAVAO CITY , Philippines   â€“ The Commission on Audit (COA) has questioned the hiring by the city government of more than 11,000 job order or contractual personnel in 2012 and spending P677.7 million for their salaries.

In a report, the COA said there was lack of proof that corresponding services were rendered and that “the necessity and propriety of hiring such a number of personnel could not be properly evaluated and/or assessed.”

Former mayor Sara Duterte, however, said it was understandable for the city government to have hired that many contractual personnel for it to be able to reach out to far-flung barangays. 

“That question is understandable. This (Davao City) is the largest city in the Philippines covered by one (local government unit) only. And government services cannot reach the farthest barangays if we do not hire personnel,” Duterte told The STAR in a text message last week.

She, however, said she had not received any report from COA on the matter.

She said her administration was “serious in helping” all its component barangays, “even the farthest ones that were nearer to Cotabato and Bukidnon than they were to City Hall.” Davao City has 182 barangays spread out in a 244,000-hectare land area.    

In its report, COA said state auditors checked if those hired by the city government indeed reported for work but were unable to locate many of them, as the contractuals were not even made to submit accomplishment reports, as required by the rules.

Citing the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, state auditors reminded the city government of the policy that “all resources of the government shall be managed, expended or utilized in accordance with law and regulations, and safeguarded against loss or wastage through illegal or improper disposition, with a view of ensuring efficiency, economy and effectiveness in the operations of the government.”

Records of the city’s Human Resource Management Office showed that for the first and second semesters of 2012, a total of 11,000 and 11,024 personnel, respectively, were hired and deployed in the different city offices and barangays.  â€“ With Michael Punongbayan