The facade of the Cebu City Hall. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Cebu City Government is now hiring qualified applicants to fill in over 2,000 regular plantilla positions at City Hall.
This hiring initiative comes in response to a recent Commission on Audit (COA) report that flagged the city’s reliance on temporary staffing.
The 2023 COA report revealed 2,311 vacant plantilla positions, which translated to P2.192 billion in unutilized funds.
“That is a priority,” said Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia in an interview on August 2.
“You know, the sad reality man gud, sige ta og ilis og administrasyon every three years so of course, ang employees sa previous administration, inag abot sa bag-o papha gyud na tanan, that’s why they don’t like to put permanent employees,” he added.
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As of December 31, 2023, the COA reported that only 1,334 out of 3,645 approved plantilla positions were filled, leaving 63.4 percent—2,311 positions—vacant.
With the COA’s findings and the Civil Service Commission’s (CSC) directives, Garcia has instructed the Personnel Selection Board (PSB) to expedite the Cebu City hiring process for regular employees.
“Sige ra na ang Civil Service [Comission] og ingon namo, ‘Pang hire namo og plantilla. Ngano sige mo og pang hire og casual?’ so we are very serious with this,” he said.
Henry Tomalabcad, head of the Human Resource Development Office (HRDO), confirmed that the application process for these positions is now underway and has been streamlined through digital means.
Interested applicants can use the City’s e-PRIME online portal to view job openings and submit their applications.
“So far, 400 plus na ka positions ang na post. 600 na ang applications ang amo na receive,” he said.
He also mentioned that casual and job order personnel are eligible to apply for these permanent positions.
The city’s current workforce includes 1,321 permanent employees and 2,776 casual staff, as reported by Tomalabcad.
“Confident mi [nga ma fill-upan gyud namo tanan vacant positions] but not this year kay naay process na. Naay days nga need nato e-publish, e-shortlist, exam, then notify, unya interview. Ang usa ka position taas taas og processo,” he said.
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Furthermore, Tomalabcad revealed that the rightsizing initiative, proposed by preventively suspended Mayor Michael Rama, has been put on hold.
However, he said that the current Cebu City hiring efforts align with the initiative’s goals since it aimed at reducing temporary positions and focusing on filling permanent posts.
“Wala nihatag si acting mayor na ipadyon ang rightsizing but murag ingana na gihapon since once na kining casual mahimong regular, ang mga casual positions na mabiyaan, as much as possible dili na fill upan aron gamay na ang casual,” he explained.