CEBU CITY: The city mayor here on Friday vowed not to trim down the number of Cebu City Hall staff to ensure the timely and efficient delivery of services.
Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said the city hall had 10,000 employees, including job order (JO) and casual workers, hired during the administration of the late mayor Edgardo Labella.
The number was trimmed down to 7,000 when suspended mayor Michael Rama assumed the post in 2021, following the death of Labella.
Prior to his suspension, Rama promised to trim down the personnel to 3,000.
However, Garcia believed that downsizing may affect the city government’s delivery of services.
‘I have asked the Human Resources Department. I think the number was trimmed down already for both casual and JO. For me, it’s enough. I will no longer disturb the existing number of workers,’ he told the Philippine News Agency.
The acting mayor said the city government has laid down several programs on how to improve further the services to the public, emphasizing his ad
ministration’s effort to bring the services down to the doorstep of their constituents.
The Cebu City Hall, he said, will need more workers to focus on personalized services like medical, dental, legal, and distribution of assistance to the village folks who have not received the services for so long, citing upland residents reeling from the effect of intense heat.
He vowed to continue Rama’s programs that are intended to help the vulnerable sectors of the city.
Rama, along with seven other Cebu City Hall officials and employees, were ordered suspended for six months for allegedly refusing to pay the salary of four city workers, an allegation he refuted publicly.
Source: Philippines News Agency