Monday, August 15, 2005
Davao mayor targets treasury grafters
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- After the local civil registry, business bureau, and city slaughterhouse, Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte is now focusing his effort on eradicating graft and corruption in the treasurer's office.
The mayor said workers found involved in irregularities in the course of doing their jobs will be fired. He said he views this move as the only way to regain the trust and confidence of Dabawenyos who he claimed have been seeking better services from the City Government.
Duterte said he would not think twice about replacing all employees of a department.
"Wholesale ang akong pagtanggal sa mga empleyado sa mga corrupt na departments. Because I believe na kung dili musugot ang (that if the) department head sa (won't allow) corruption dili gyud na mahitabo (it will not happen)," Duterte said.
The mayor said he would soon review at random the files of each department and if he sees signs of irregularities in that office, he will request the Ombudsman to investigate.
Duterte started the "cleansing" City Hall on July 29, with the revamp of the Business Bureau and the Local Civil Registrar. All the officials and employees of the two offices were replaced, affecting a total of 71 plantilla and 62 contractual employees.
On August 10, Duterte ordered the termination of 23 job order employees assigned with the slaughterhouse in Ma-a after he met with members of the Metro Davao Meat Vendors Association in Bankerohan.
Duterte was angered upon hearing the vendors reveal that it is a practice among slaughterhouse workers to demand one kilo of meat from every hog a vendor brings
in to be slaughtered.
Right after hearing such, the mayor ordered the immediate closure of the abattoir.
He also asked City Economic Enterprise Head Roberto Teo to terminate the contractual workers assigned in the slaughterhouse, citing their failure and negligence, and replace them with regular employees.
Teo said average number of hogs slaughtered everyday is 300. If the vendors were telling the truth, then slaughterhouse workers collect an average of 300 kilos of pork everyday.
The revamps in City Hall were started by Duterte in reaction to the Social Weather Stations survey on governance that identified Davao City as having the most corrupt government employees.
The study did not, however, specify where the corruption occurred--whether in City Hall or the regional line agencies. (BOT of Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(August 15, 2005 issue)
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