CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has ordered the evaluation of all City Hall employees as he took over as the new mayor following the death of Mayor Edgardo Labella.
Rama said he wants to optimize the human resource in the City Hall and keep the employees that are working efficiently and effectively while letting go of those who are not.
In a speech, Rama said that he has assigned overseers in all 27 departments to monitor the heads and the employees, as well as facilitate the collaboration, coordination, and cooperation with his office.
He said the employees will be evaluated according to performance and connections or party memberships will not matter. The department heads will also be evaluated according to performance.
“I have assigned persons who have my confidence to oversee, coordinate, collaborate, and cooperate with our 27 departments. They will provide me a feedback mechanism on the state of governance and guide me to steer our city,” said Rama.
In previous statements, Rama clarified that since department head positions are positions of trust and confidence, he cannot immediately trust the current heads because he was not present during their appointment.
All current department heads were appointed by the late Mayor Labella, who passed away last November 19, 2021.
READ: BREAKING: Cebu City Mayor Labella passes away
Department heads are instructed to provide the new mayor with the necessary inputs when he announces the direction of the city by December 6, 2021.
“I will form a team on human resource and management specialists, and further tap the support of PMAP, the People Management Association of the Philippines, to institutionalize professionalism in the City Government.”
“Regular employees, as well as casual and job order personnel whose contracts will be renewed from January, should subscribe to such guidance,” said the mayor.
Rama said that working employees should not fear the evaluation because this will be objective. He said that as long as they do their jobs with honesty, they will pass.
“No one should be afraid, for as long as dili mo kawatan, hugawan, tapulan, pala-away, tismoso, intrigero, bugal-bugalon, tigpamentaha, kwentador o’ mo ihap og trabaho, isipan ug empleyado nga wala diay nahibaw-an ug nakama-ohan,” said the mayor.
Those who will fail the evaluations will be asked to resign as a courtesy so that they will not have a tarnished work record as well.
Rama said that he has heard many rumors of work discrepancies in the City Hall, but he does not want to trust just rumors. The evaluation should show the objective performance of the employees.
He said the City Hall is never exempted from bogus workers, but his administration can attempt to reduce these instances through thorough evaluation.
/bmjo