EWs outnumber regular employees in city hall
ONLY IN DAGUPAN CITY
THE number of emergency workers (EWs) paid on a daily rate, currently at 700, outnumber the regular employees holding plantilla positions, at 600, in the Dagupan City government.
The data is contained in a report to the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) submitted by Virgil Tangco, city budget officer, when he justified the availability of a P10.1 million fund in personnel savings for the second quarter of the year.
Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, chair of the SP, hinted of a possible anomaly in this situation noting that EWs are only supposed to assist regular employees, whose appointments are attested by the Civil Service Commission, in performing their tasks.
“It is not known where these EWs are assigned, nor the tasks they are performing, nor to whom they are reporting,” Fernandez said.
The vice mayor also said that Dagupan could possibly be the only city in Pangasinan and possibly in the entire country of its size that lists as many as 1,300 employees in its payroll.
REVERSION
The P10.1 million fund is being proposed for reversion to the general fund in a supplemental budget submitted by the new majority in the SP to be used to fund the wages, overtime pay and other benefits of EWs for the third quarter of the year.
The measure was proposed by Councilor Jesus Canto, new chairman on finance, following a committee hearing attended by City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara, Tangco and City Administrator Vladimir Mata.
The proposal means that a number of the regular positions in the city government are still unfilled and the budget for those unfilled positions will be reverted and used to fund the wages of the 700 EWs.
The vice mayor recalled that in the approved 2012 budget of the city, the mayor proposed only a six-month budget for the EWs from January to June and she had asked the city administrator to explain where the city plans to source the wages of these personnel from July to December.
City Administrator Vlad Mata had assured the city council that the budget for the EWs would not pose a problem for the city.
Fernandez also inquired if there is a fund for the year-end bonuses, cash gift of regular employees by December, to which Tangco replied that the fourth quarter savings from personnel services are being readied for the purpose.
On the other hand, the third quarter savings on personnel services are being reserved for the wages of the 700 EWs for the rest of the year, from October to December.
Noting the big number of EWs in the city, Fernandez warned that the budget for personnel services in the city should not exceed 40 percent of the city budget, which is the limit set in the Local Government Code.
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