Four depts downgraded

WITHOUT any discussion or objection, the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) on Monday, Aug. 19, 2019, passed on third and final reading an ordinance downgrading four departments into divisions under the Office of the Governor.

Those that will be affected by the development are the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (Cpadao), Provincial Tourism Office (PTO) and the Cebu Provincial Investment and Promotions Office (CPIPO).

Before the legislation was passed, ex-officio PB Member Celestino Martinez III had expressed concerns on downgrading the disaster office during the preliminary deliberation last Aug. 13.

Among the concerns the legislator had raised was for the Capitol to take into consideration the number of typhoons, among others, that enter the country every year.

Martinez, who authored the ordinance creating the PDRRMO in 2015, had said the office was “born out from our experience during typhoon Yolanda.”

However, he was absent during the PB’s final deliberation on the ordinance.

Filed by PB Members Edsel Galeos (second district), John Ismael Borgonia (third district), Andrei Duterte (fifth district), and Thadeo Jovito Ouano and Glenn Anthony Soco (sixth district), the approved legislation seeks to “rationalize and improve public service delivery by the reorganization of the offices of the executive branch of the Provincial Government.”

During the measure’s second reading, Galeos had said that the “reorganization is directed to streamline the offices without sacrificing the quality of service.”

Following its approval, the ordinance will downsize the workforce in the four departments to only 31 from a total of 166.

It will leave PDRRMO with 10 plantilla positions instead of 37, while the Cpadao, PTO and CPIPO will each have seven regular positions available.

At present, there are 49 regular positions in Cpadao, while the PTO and CPIPO each have 30 and 50 slots, respectively.

Earlier, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said the Province would likely have an annual savings of P186 million for salaries if it downgraded the four departments into divisions. (RTF)

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