Sunday, December 02, 2007 Mayor cautions barangay officials against going after workers who didn’t vote for them By Rene H. Martel Sun.Star Staff Reporter
CEBU City’s barangay workers who are at risk of getting fired by newly elected officials are appealing for fairness, saying it’s service, not politics, that drives them.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña recognized their woes and promised that no one will be sent packing because of political reasons.
“They cannot do that (fire barangay workers). Their barangay workers’ allowances are given by the City, not by the barangays,” the mayor said.
He said firing barangay health workers (BHWs), gender and development (GAD) workers, barangay nutrition scholars and day-care workers, should be on a case-to-case basis.
The reason should be poor performance, and not because they were allied or perceived to have worked for the newly elected officials’ opponents.
The mayor cited as example the case of Lorega San Miguel’s BHWs, who were told to leave because they were identified with defeated barangay captain Fortunato Parawan.
“In that case, the answer is no (for termination)…. Like I said, it is on a case-to-case basis,” he said.
Volunteers only
Osmeña will meet all village chiefs as soon as possible about the barangay workers. However, he is unenthusiastic about making the barangay workers regular employees, saying the government’s objective is to provide basic services “efficiently and cheaply.”
Barangay workers are considered volunteers who only receive honoraria both from the barangay and the City Government.
If the City will make them regular employees, Osmeña said, he will be forced to fire half of their number because the regular workers require additional benefits.
The City Council last Wednesday asked newly elected barangay officials, who started their terms of office yesterday, to be more circumspect in hiring and firing workers.
It also asked Vice Mayor Michael Rama to immediately summon the new barangay chiefs to discuss their concerns.
That was after City Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa expressed alarm over the impending termination of services of barangay workers, which he said will be a “multi-million peso loss of investments on human resources.”
Martha Ricablanca, Cogon Ramos day-care worker, said she felt like dying when told last Thursday that she will be replaced after 14 years.
She is the president of the Cebu City Day-care Workers Federation, Region 7 Day-care Workers Federation, and National Federation of Daycare Workers in the Visayas.
She is a certified trainer of day-care workers and was eyed as the next National Federation of Daycare Workers president.
She said several of the 152 daycare workers, specifically from Barangays Duljo Fatima, Tejero and Apas, were directly or indirectly told to leave.
“I cannot understand why they are treating me this way. Akong appeal, hatagan mi’g chance to explain sad, which should be the right way,” she said.
“Dili lalim ilang gibuhat nako. Mora kog mamatay pagpahibalo sa konsehal nako. My life has been spent working at the day-care, like the other day-care workers,” she added.
Her daughter ran but lost under the ticket of former barangay captain Danilo Alfafara’s wife, who lost to newly elected Barangay Captain Noel Godiz.
Ricablanca said that although she received no termination notice yet, Barangay Councilor Alecia Gumba, committee on social services head, approached her last Thursday and told her that she may lose her job.
As a day-care worker, she receives P1,191 from the barangay.
Although it depends on each barangay what amount to give to day-care workers, Ricablanca said the City Government provides a counterpart sum so that each of them receives a uniform monthly honorarium of P2,000.
The pay is paltry, but Ricablanca said they volunteered because of their “wholehearted service” for the children. (RHM)
