The first to get hit, however, is the alleged "bloated" bureaucracy in the city hall.
Hundreds of casuals and contractuals whose contracts have expired as of June 30 this year have been laid off by new City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian.
"We were left with no better option. There is a need to streamline our ranks in the face of low incomes and big expenditures," Gatchalian said. The new mayor said he is trimming the bureaucratic fat by re-deploying some employees back to their mother units and rationalize certain departments, turning them into "lean and mean" machines.
Sources said the city government is currently facing obligations of some P300 million that are maturing shortly aside from their alleged discovery of a significant number of ghost employees being financed by the city government.
This and the trickling revenue filtering into the city coffers justify the belt-tightening measures the city has just adopted, the source claimed.
A former ranking official close to immediate past mayor and now Valenzuela Rep. Jose Emmanuel "Bobbit" Carlos (District 1) told The STAR there is no such debt left behind. The source also pointed out that the ghost employee issue is baseless and is utterly impossible. "This is not true, impossible. The Personnel Department knows that. They get their salaries directly from the Treasurer’s Office. Before they are hired, whether casuals or consultants, the mayor (Bobbit) requires their personal appearance before they get hired," the official explained.
The former city hall official said the P300 million, allegedly used for the purchase of lots for a new city hall and a justice hall, was an investment for the city and not an expense.
"This must be treated not as an expenditure but as a capital asset. This is not a maturing obligation," the source said.
Critics lashed at Gatchalian for firing the employees citing politics as motive. Some of them claim they have not been regularized despite staying in their respective departments holding the same positions for very long years. Some were also reacting to reports that Gatchalian was firing employees closely identified with the former mayor.
"Most of us who lost our jobs have been here for years as casuals. We are being accused of being lackeys of Carlos, but that is not true," the source said. They feared that those terminated will most surely be replaced by Gatchalian’s own men.
Some, who have toiled for as long as eight or nine years, said they are not even interested in getting a permanent item.
"We do not even wish anymore to be regularized. Please, just rehire us. We have to feed our families," they pleaded.
Gatchalian, however, emphasized there is no politics involved in this belt-tightening measure they have adopted. It is a necessity, he said, to spare the city from further financial hemorrhage and needless waste of meager resources now at the new administration’s disposal.
Reyes said those concerned were given only until June 30 to work since Gatchalian has opted not to renew their contracts. She said the health department was the most affected.
The STAR gathered that of the 1,200 non-permanent employees, Gatchalian will rehire only about 400 who will be deployed in departments that deliver the most basic services like waste disposal and traffic management.
Of the 2,000 personnel employed at the city hall, 800 are regulars. According to Reyes, some 1,200 employees lost their jobs.
Reyes defended the action taken by Gatchalian in terminating the services of those booted out saying this (firing as hiring) was the mayor’s prerogative.
A performance audit is now allegedly being made by the different departments to determine their unit’s particular needs to fill the corresponding personnel requirement.