No Courtesy Calls Please: Cortes to make rounds of different City Hall offices

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes is joined by his wife, Sarah, (front row, second from left) in a souvenir photo taken after he took his oath of office on Friday afternoon. Court of Appeals Justice Marilyn Yap (4th from right) administered the mayor’s oath. /Doris C. Bongcac

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes will formally occupy the office of the mayor starting on Monday, July 1.

Cortes said that he will start his day by joining the weekly flag raising ceremony at the City Hall grounds.

But contrary to tradition, Cortes said, he will not be entertaining department heads and employees who will be visiting his office on Monday for a courtesy call.

Instead, Cortes said that he will be making his rounds of the different City Hall offices to visit department heads and employees and check on their working conditions and personally see what they are working on.

“Now, ato ning balihon. Wala nay courtesy call but the mayor, ako mismo maoy mo adto sa ilang departamento so that makita nato what’s the real score. Unsa gyud ang sitwasyon sa ilang opisina,” he said.

(Now, I wanted a reverse. We will already do away with courtesy calls, instead I will be visiting the different City Hall departments so that I will get to see what’s the real score in their offices. What is the situation in their offices.)

Read More: Cortes promises to adopt participatory gov’t, credits NQ’s help for his victory

Cortes said he wanted his fresh mandate spent on bringing government services closer to the Mandauehanons.

He was Mandaue City mayor for three terms from 2007 to 2016 before he took on the position of 6th district representative for three years from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2019. Cortes was again elected Mandaue City mayor in the May 13 midterm polls and will assume the office of the mayor starting on Monday.

“Lisud man gud nga sila ang mo nganhi sa opisina sa mayor. I really want to bring the government ngadto sa katawhan and atong sugdan dinhi sa dakbayan sa Mandaue. Ang mayor maoy manaug after this ato pong dan-on ang serbisyo ngadto sa kabarangayan. Atong ibalik ang barangayan,” he said.

(I know that it is difficulty for them to be coming to the office of the mayor. I really want to bring the government closer to the people and we will start doing that here at the Mandaue City Hall.  The mayor will be the one to go down to bring services to the barangays. We will revive the barangayan.)

Read More: Cortes urge new Councilors to hold some of their sessions in the barangays

Meanwhile, Cortes said his transition team is yet to finalize who among the City Hall department heads will be retained in their current positions and who among them will have to be replaced.

He earlier named Atty. Jamaal James Calipayan as his city administrator while Atty. John Eddu Ibañez will be his executive secretary and acting head of the city’s Public Information Office.  Calipayan was his chief of staff when he was still 6th district representative.