FORMER mayor Arthur Despi of Bantayan, Cebu yesterday said the hiring of job-order (JOs) personnel in the town fluctuates according to project requirements.
In an email to SunStar Cebu, Despi commented on the statement of newly-installed Mayor Ian Christopher Escario that when he (Escario) left, there were only 180 job-order workers, and now it totaled 380 when he returned as chief executive.
Escario said that he will terminate the servives of all the employees coterminous with Despi, but retain the job-order and casual employees.
Escario, reportedly a former councilor of Sagay, Negros Occidental, was defeated by Despi last year. Despi had more than 17,000, while Escario got more than 12,000 votes. However, the Comelec disqualified Despi.
Despi, in a statement, said that when he assumed the mayorship last July 2016, there was no massive layoff of temporary personnel.
“JOs from the previous term of Escario were reshuffled or retained in their departments. Hardly anyone was booted out,” Despi said.
“Most JOs were employed as construction workers handling projects like building of school rooms, day care center facilities, road repairs, school perimeter fences, and DRRM (Disaster Risk Reduction Management) work,” Despi said.
Despi added that the number of job-order workers was not fixed.
“Workers were only hired according to the phase of each project,” Despi said.
He cited as example the list of ongoing projects as of May 1, 2017.
For dumpsite perimeter fence, they hired 17 masons and “pahenantes” combined.
For Unity Village (relocation site), they hired four plumbing workers for the installation of pipeline in Unity Village (relocation site) and nine electrical workers for the installation of electrical wiring.
Despi said they hired 13 JOs for the construction of a two-storey, six-classroom school building in Barangay Mojon.
The town hired 36 workers for the rehabilitation of three classrooms in Barangay Baigad and three classrooms in Bantayan Elementary Schools.