Tomas confirms cutting down on ambulance workers in villages

The non-renewal of ambulance workers in some barangays came months after Mayor Tomas Osmeña ordered the recall of some ambulances from the barangays. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

THE termination of job-order workers of Cebu City Hall’s emergency medical services (EMS) unit won’t affect emergency response operations in Cebu City, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said yesterday.

“It’s possible that one barangay will not have an ambulance because another one (adjacent to it) already has one,” he said in yesterday’s conference.

The mayor confirmed a Facebook post made by Apas Barangay Chairman Ramil Ayuman last Friday.

Ayuman announced that Osmeña did not renew the contracts of personnel manning the ambulance assigned to his village.

Ayuman, an ally of former mayor Michael Rama, bid goodbye to the “Ambu 9” and its crew assigned to Apas for two years.

He said the ambulance crew responded to 2,000 emergency cases.

Osmeña said City Hall had 700 job order employees, many of whom were hired “for political purposes.”

The mayor said the city government was spending for as many as 14 personnel for each ambulance, which was more than what they spent for maintaining the ambulances.

Osmeña said City Hall spent P6,000 a day for the salaries of personnel alone.

He said Nagiel Bañacia, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC), had to rationalize the use of these personnel.

“We are cutting it down so that services are available and to (make room) for personnel who have undergone proper training with Eruf (Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation),” Osmeña said.

The mayor denied the layoff was due to political reasons.

He cited city traffic enforcers who were employed by the former administration whom he allowed to stay because they work hard.

In his Facebook post yesterday, Bañacia apologized to all job order personnel whose contracts were no longer renewed effective Feb. 1 since he was “left with no choice.”

He said the contracts of at least 58 EMS personnel from Barangays Apas, Cogon Pardo, Poblacion Pardo, Inayawan, Quiot and Guadalupe were not renewed due to insufficient funds.