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Saturday, January 28, 2006
4 of 6 fired casuals reinstated; procedures blamed
Some Cebu City Hall employees believe lapses in the processing of payroll should not be entirely blamed on the six casuals alone.
They said the officials who approved the release of the salaries and the persons who released the amount to the casuals should also be held responsible for it.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez yesterday closed his investigation on the processing of the payrolls of the six casuals, noting that there were indeed “procedural lapses.”
“There was no fraudulent act on their part as the mayor already signed their appointments. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, though, because they got their salaries ahead of the others whose appointments have yet to be released,” he told reporters yesterday.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña approved his two recommendations last night and four of the casuals will be reinstated on Monday.
Fernandez’s first recommendation is to issue a memorandum providing that the budget office, the human resources department, the Management Information and Computer Services, the City Accounting Office, the City Treasurer’s Office, the City Administrator’s Office and the mayor’s office – all departments involved in the processing of payrolls – should be the last offices to receive their salaries.
Penalty
The second recommendation is that the six casuals should be punished for the lapse.
But four of them, who are “not directly responsible for the lapse, will be reinstated on Monday,” while the status of the other two casuals will not be known “until the gravity of their offense is established.”
“Something was really wrong and it was made more serious because it benefited them rather than everybody,” Fernandez said.
Meanwhile, Human Resource Development Office (HRDO) Chief Ralph Sevilla believes he was “surreptitiously” made to sign the payroll of the six casual workers of the City Budget Office even if their renewed appointments were not yet released.
Sevilla, whose office is responsible for releasing the renewed contracts of the casuals, signed the payroll, said Fernandez.
Sun.Star Cebu tried but failed to contact Sevilla yesterday. His staff refused to be interviewed.
Fernandez, for his part, said he was not able to sign the payrolls as he already delegated this task to Internal Control Office Chief Remedios Belderol and Assistant Administrator Jovy Morelos.
“But if I sign the payrolls and see other signatures ahead of me, I will presume that HRDO signed it so all attachments are in place,” he explained.
Procedures dictate that all payrolls and appointments emanate from the HRDO.
The payroll maker from the HRDO signs first, then HRDO chief, then the City Budget Officer, the City Accountant, the City Treasurer and the City Administrator.
Sevilla immediately recommended that the six casuals be dismissed for claiming their salaries even if the renewed appointments of casuals for January were not yet released.
Fernandez explained these were already signed but the casuals did not wait for the release.
Asked why only the six casuals should be punished, he said, “When there was an attempt to investigate the matter, people involved did not show up.”
“We could not pinpoint who is liable. So we used the shotgun approach. Silang tanan ang gi-terminate,” he said. (GAC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 28, 2006 issue)
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