Dagupan still not off the financial ‘hook’
AFTER TERMINATING 150 EWs
Councilor De Venecia questions mass lay-off
THE worst is yet to come for the cash-strapped Dagupan City government.
As gleaned from the city council’s committee hearing last week initiated by Councilor Alex de Venecia, the city government neither has the money for the additional compensation allowance of its regular employees nor the fund to pay for the services of the number of emergency workers and technical consultants it has decided to maintain.
It appears that despite the termination of 150 of its 285 emergency workers as of August 31this year enabling the city to save at least P1 million, the effort is not enough to stave off a serious financial crisis in the city.
City Accountant Bernardo Tamondong told the committee that the wages paid to the EWs from June to July 15 were already sourced out from savings covering the period August to September.
Observers found it irregular that anticipated and unearned savings are already being used.
Tamondong revealed that the city has yet to source the fund with which to pay the wages of the EWs for July 16 to August 31 (last day of work), and again pointed to the city government’s anticipated last quarter savings only as the possible source.
Additionally, the city is scrambling for funds to pay for the salaries of EWs that were retained, mostly from the ranks of traffic enforcers of the Public Order and Safety Office, covering the period September to December.
Zenaida Edades, head of the human resources department, revealed that the original plan to retain only 30 per cent of the 285 EWs could not be implemented since it paralyzes some of the vital services of the city government.
City Budget Officer Ildefonso Calimlim said the salaries of the EWs are not included in the 2006 budget and remained to be dependent on savings from various departments.
Councilor De Venecia had questioned the mass lay-off of EWs without due notice and left them unprepared to cope with their being unemployed. He said that all government employees deserve to be advised early on of any plans for the termination of their services.
Earlier de Venecia recommended the creation of a task force to retrain and retool the laid-off EWs to enable them to either engage in livelihood projects or qualify for other jobs in the private sector. – AQL
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