Rama retains 300 casual workers

CEBU, Philippines - About 300 casual workers of the Cebu City government whose employment contracts were initially not renewed   by Mayor Michael Rama last June 30 had been given the chance to work again at the City Hall — with a strong warning to work hard.

Celso Esteban Jimenea, the assistant chief of the Human Resource Development Office, said there are only about 200 casuals whose contracts were no longer renewed because most of them have work-related problems.

Since there are many casual workers whose employment contracts were only renewed weeks ago, they were not able to collect their salaries last July 15, but Jimenea said they have nothing to worry about.

“Wala man na’y problema kay makakobra man g’yud sila sa ilang sweldo pero nalangay lang kay dugay man na-process ang ilang documents,” Jimenea told The FREEMAN yesterday.

Before June 30, the city had over 3,200 casual workers.

The wife of a former Cebu City councilor who started working with the city during the term of former mayor Tomas Osmeña is among those whose contract was not renewed by Rama.

HRDO head Dominic Diño said they will continue to monitor the behavior and performance of all 5,000 city employees because the mayor does not want to see lazy and unproductive personnel.

Diño said the mayor already announced that he will not hesitate to remove any City Hall personnel even if they are his supporters if there is evidence that they are corrupt, lazy and usually engage in intrigues.

Although some casuals were allowed to continue to work in City Hall, some of them were just given a two- or three-month contract while their performance will be closely monitored by their respective department heads.

When asked whether the 200 casuals that were no longer renewed by Rama will be replaced with new ones, Jimenea refused to confirm, but he said the new applicants shall be subjected to examinations to determine their capacity and ability to work. — /BRP (FREEMAN)