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Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Ex-mayor blamed for City Hall mess
ANGELES CITY -- National Housing Authority (NHA) manager and former city mayor Edgardo Pamintuan is partly to blame for the ongoing dispute between the City Government and city employees, a former official who refused to be named said.
The official said Pamintuan, who was elected mayor in 1992 and 1995, hired many casuals during his term even when the City Government did not have the financial capability to pay them.
"As a result, the city hall under Pamintuan had to borrow P17 million to shoulder the additional costs of having more casual employees than it could afford to support," the official said.
When incumbent Mayor Carmelo "Tarzan" Lazatin took over in 1998, the City Government was saddled with a lot of extra personnel and a huge debt to pay that he inherited from Pamintuan, the official said.
Tarzan refused to pay the loan incurred by Pamintuan and was poised to lay off the casual employees brought in by his predecessor, the official said.
"Tarzan was not able to execute his plan to get rid of Pamintuan's casual appointees because the city workers stood in his way," the official said.
The official said that Pamintuan's hiring of too many casuals had such a negative effect that until now, the City Government is not able to implement the salary standardization program for city workers.
"Ang dami pang mga department heads diyan sa city hall na hindi pa nakukuha yung dapat nilang makuhang sweldo dahil walang pera ang city hall dahil sa malaking gastos sa mga casuals," the official said. (There are many department heads in city hall who haven't received their wages yet because of the huge amount of money spent on casuals.)
Despite hitting Pamintuan on the current predicament, the official also said Lazatin is also to blame for aggravating the financial problem at the city hall.
"Hindi niya natanggal ang mga dinala ni Pamintuan, nagdagdag din siya ng mga employado sa pamamagitan ng job order," the official said. (He didn't lay off Pamintuan's casuals, instead he added more employees through a job order.)
In the meantime, he said that Lazatin has not been able to raise more revenues for the City Government to meet its obligations to its growing bureaucracy at city hall.
"Wala ng political will na tanggalin ang dapat tanggalin, wala ring political will na itaas ang kita ng City Government," the official said. (There is no political will to lay off what needs to be laid-off, and there is no political will to increase revenues of the City Government.)
(September 24, 2003 issue)
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