Special assistants assigned; transition team ready
Acting Cebu City Mayor Margot Osmeña (foreground) shows in a press briefing the memorandum she issued for the assignment of special assistants in different City Hall departments.(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
ACTING Cebu City Mayor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña has assigned special assistants to different departments and offices in City Hall to ensure proper implementation of her memos and directives.
Osmeña also drafted another memorandum forming a transition team to ensure the smooth turnover of City Hall to her husband and Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña on July 1.
Osmeña is the acting mayor until June 30 following the Office of the President’s suspension of outgoing Mayor Michael Rama, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and 12 councilors over the release of the P20,000 calamity assistance in 2013.
Osmeña said in a press conference that the special assistants won’t take over the respective offices where they are assigned but they will “work parallel” to the department heads.
“Be advised that this order is a special assignment, given effect without any new appointment, transfer, detail and/or any other personnel actions under Civil Service Laws from your current functions and positions in the Cebu City Government,” read the memo which was signed yesterday.
In her memo, Osmeña assigned Civil Registrar head Evangeline Abatayo as special assistant to the City Administrator’s Office, city lawyer Eleodoro Diaz IV to the City Legal Office, and city lawyer Marie Velle Abella to the Human Resource Development Office.
She also assigned Emma Villarete to the city treasurer’s office and Arlene Rentuza to the city accountant’s office.
Osmeña said that the choice of the special assistants is based on “trust.”
“They will work together with the department, whoever the head is, to make things easier for everybody because it’s easier for us to talk to them, and to make sure that whatever directives we put out are being implemented. Any questions can be coursed through them,” she said.
The other employees appointed included engineer Josefa Ylanan for the Department of Engineering and Public Works and Office of the Building Official, and Dr. Alma Corpin for the City Health Department.
Osmeña said the special assignments will be on top of the special assistant’s current job at City Hall. They will be reporting directly to and will take orders from the acting mayor.
The memorandum will take effect until June 9, which is the day after Commission on Elections lifts its ban on the transfer or movement of any employees. The ban was implemented by the poll body from Jan. 10 to June 8 in relation to the May 9 elections.
Osmeña has also formed City Hall’s transition team which will be headed by her and Abatayo, special assistant to the city administrator’s office, as the team’s vice chairperson.
Incoming Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s transition team, on the other hand, will include former councilor Augustus Pe Jr., former city administrator lawyer Ralph Sevill, and former city legal officer Joseph Bernaldez.
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