Some LTO workers have expired contracts

CEBU, Philippines -  A number of job order employees continue to work at different offices of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 despite the fact that their contracts have expired, fueling speculations that they are working as fixers to support their daily needs while waiting the renewal of their contracts.

Epimaco Caballero, chief of the LTO 7’s Cebu City District For Hire Office at Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City, confirmed to The FREEMAN that they allowed former job order employees to help offices to answer the needs of the transacting public.

The FREEMAN visited the office of Caballero last Friday after receiving reports that these job order employees whose contracts expired last February and were not renewed for lack of funds continue working at the LTO.

According to Caballero, his office only has three regular employees. He explained that if he would not allow these job order employees to help him, services of will be affected.

Caballero admitted to The FREEMAN that he shares part of his salary to these job order employees.

“Nakita man gud nako nga kon dili nato patabangon kining mga kanhi job order nga empleyado dako gayud kayo kini og epekto sa atong buhatan, mao nga napugos nalang gyud pa ta pagamit sa ilang serbisyo,” Caballero said.

He further stated that other district offices of LTO-7 are still dependent on the services of job order employees.

The FREEMAN learned that LTO-7 Director Raul Aguilos reiterated his memorandum order issued last February prohibiting non-LTO employees and fixers from entering the premises of the different offices. But the job order employees whose salaries are just delayed due to non-availability of funds are not covered by the said memorandum order.

Although they are not covered by the order, there were some reports that some of them resorted to illegal practices such as fixing, over-assessment of payments, and others.

Earlier, a former job order employee of the LTO-7 office asked the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to look into the alleged irregularities at the office involving its officials.

Antonio Dosado, of Springwood Subdivision in Minglanilla, said in his letter to Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol that he already raised his concern before Aden Belza, officer-in-charge of the LTO-7 Administrative Division, but they all fell on deaf ears.

In his letter dated June 14, 2011, Dosado said job order personnel who are not considered as government employees were allowed to operate as drivers of LTO patrol cars.

According to Dosado, deputized agents who are private individuals were allowed to ride LTO patrol cars in their routine roadside apprehension operations. He said most of the deputized agents who were granted deputization are not qualified, since a general qualification is that they must be government employees.   - (THE FREEMAN)