A city lawmaker is questioning the appointment of more contractual employees by Tagbilaran City Mayor John Geesnell Yap, even before a formal review and confirmation was made by the city council.  City Councilor Alexander Lim told media yesterday that the city mayor seems to be treating the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) like a “stamping pad”, especially in the appointment of new contractual or casual workers and even consultants.  The latest batch of appointees submitted by Mayor Yap for the confirmation of the SP during its regular session on Friday would have brought the number of new City Hall appointees to 82 but Councilor Lim questioned the move saying the city council should have the right to review the qualification of each appointee before the mayor issued their appointment papers.

“The authority of the mayor to appoint is not absolute. It is also the responsibility of the SP to review organizational, personnel and other administrative concerns of the city government. Besides, the city council should also be informed whether funds are available for the salaries and wages of workers,” Lim said.  According to Lim, all of the mayor’s appointees have already assumed their jobs without confirmation from the SP.  “What is the use of submitting to us names if the mayor has signed their contracts or appointments beforehand and they are already rendering services. I am questioning the urgency of these appointments that proper procedure had to be disregarded. Although the SP has given him (city mayor) authority to hire or appoint any contractual employees which he deems necessary, he could not do so without informing first the legislature. He is putting us in a bad light,” Lim added.

Lim pointed out that instead of hiring a “hoard of casuals”, vacant plantilla positions should be filled up so that applicants must fit the required qualifications of a particular position. Based on an inquiry made by City Councilor Bebiano Inting, the city government generates P53-million in savings in a year from unfilled positions. At present there are 253 vacant positions in the city government. Mayor Yap submitted for SP approval some 14 new contractual appointees and 8 new consultants. Presently, there are 59 contractual employees and three consultants of the mayor, according to City Administrator Leonides Borja who explained the hiring policy of the new city administration during the mayor’s weekly radio program “Nagkahi-usang Tagbilaran”. “Most of these contract services are reappointments of our Day Care teachers trained in our Multiple Intelligence (MI) program. The rest are traffic aides,” Borja explained.

 However, Councilor Lim said he opposed the new set of appointees because he noticed that there have been “quite a number” of appointees bearing the designation of “Confidential Aide to the City Mayor” prominently having higher salary grade than most of City Hall’s regular employees.  The new set of appointees of Mayor Yap is put on hold and being deferred by the SP after this was questioned by Lim who said confidential aides are being paid P20,000 to P30,000, a rate much higher than the regular legislative staff.  “I respect the mayor’s prerogative and decision to hire new personnel but we, in the SP, has to perform our mandate. We also have to make sure that the hiring of contractual workers will not exceed the allotted appropriation for personal services,” Councilor Lim stressed.

 According to Lim, the present number of contractual personnel and consultants appointed by the city mayor would already reach a monthly appropriation of P1.3 million.  “I hope this is not an act of political payback or accommodation of those who helped the mayor during the election. We still have to know the real financial status of the city. The mayor himself admitted to having inherited a bankrupt City Hall. It is not a sound public policy to appoint so many casual workers in these times of financial uncertainty. I believe the mayor has more than enough of consultants and confidential aides to help him in running the affairs of the city,” he stressed.  Lim likewise pointed out that many appointees of the city mayor are identified with the previous administration.