LGUs reminded to make proper use of revamps

CEBU, Philippines - The Civil Service Commission is reminding the government sectors and Local Government Units not to implement revamps against “exigency of public service.”

CSC personnel specialist Prolaine Daclan said that any head of office has the discretion to reassign his or her personnel particularly department/division chiefs. However, she said if complaints are filed against chiefs’ movement, only then will the agency intervene and investigate.

“In the exigency of the service, any head of office could really reassign people, iya nang discretion to view nga maybe this person will work well with the new assignment. Unless there will be a complaint,” Daclan said.

“Di nato kuhaon og authority sa mga heads of offices like mayors, directors, governors unless proven otherwise nga dili done ang revamp or reshuffle in the exigency of the service… Kanang gi-initan ra gyod,” Daclan added.

Daclan is also the CSC’s Public Assistance and Liaison Division chief.

Daclan said that “reassignment is presumed to be regular and made in the interest of public service unless proven otherwise or if it constitutes constructive dismissal.”

Stipulated in Sec. 7 of Memorandum Circular No. 02, series of 2005, the Revised Rules on Reassignment defines constructive dismissal as “when an official or employee quits his or her work because of the agency head’s unreasonable, humiliating, or demeaning actuations, which render continued work impossible because of geographic location, financial dislocation and performance of other duties and responsibilities inconsistent with those attached to the position.

The measure further states that constructive dismissal “may occur although there is no diminution or reduction in rank, status or salary of the employee.”

Also, Daclan clarified that “same benefits” will receive by the reassigned department heads. “Based on the general guideline as far as personnel movement is concerned, same benefits lang kay it’s function-based not position-based,” she said.

Last Thursday, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama reshuffled his department heads banking on City Hall’s vision of “Show of Super Service” (SOSS).

“I exercise my prerogative looking at the political dimension, and it has taken into that direction,” Rama said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Cebu City administrator Engr. Eugene Elizalde is eyeing to remove “politics in governance.”

“I will empower them (department heads) to do their functions because I want to remove if possible the politics involved in governance. Because many department heads cannot do it perhaps because they are afraid,” Elizalde told reporters yesterday.

Being the new city administrator, Elizalde said he already told the mayor that he will abide and stick to his own principle to avoid politics.

“The mayor knows that I go by my principle nga di ko apilon sa politika. I just hope that I will fit in and I just hope my logic and common sense will be able to help me,” Elizalde said.

Elizalde said he was extremely surprised by his appointment.

“Ako’y numero uno na kugang. I’m very new, so mixed emotion pako ron…the appointment was a surprise to me because the mayor knows very well that I am not a political person,” he said.

Elizalde was the former Police Coordinating and Advisory Council chief before replacing Jose Marie Poblete as City Administrator. While Poblete, an engineer and lawyer by profession, was reassigned as chief of the Department of Engineering and Public Works.

Likewise, Poblete was also surprised by Rama’s decision.

“Wa ko kahibalo na ing-ani ka paspas ang movement. Na-surprise lang kay if naa’y movement we do not question, we just follow,” Poblete said.

He said that the movement was accordingly explained to him by Rama saying “there is a bigger picture to look at with the new position.”

Rama said the revamp was part of  the city’s paradigm shift to maximize the abilities and jobs of the department heads. This will guide the city government to operate new parameters and guidelines this year in line with SOSS.

“If you look at the structure, it is something that we look forward, abangan lang ang susunod,” Rama said. - /BRP (FREEMAN)