ALL regular and casual employees of the Cebu City Government will be subjected to evaluation to determine their tenure and renewal of their contract from January to June 30, 2022.
This was announced by Mayor Michael Rama on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021, his first day as mayor of Cebu City following the passing of mayor Edgardo Labella on Nov. 19.
“I will repeat what I said before, with due respect to our departed mayor, I will not rock the boat here at City Hall. But the one-month evaluation of all employees’ performance continues,” Rama revealed.
For Labella’s appointees to coterminous positions, the new mayor said their retention in the City Government would be based on the appointing authority’s trust and confidence in them.
“Definitely, it would just be a matter of time. I should always look at the issue of trust and confidence. These are positions that I was mindful and cognizant of, the so-called coterminous. This matter about cotermimous I would not be closing my eyes, but in due time really, I have to confront.”
Because of this, the appointees of the late mayor such as the head of the Office of the City Administrator, Floro Casas Jr., and the executive assistants who were hired to perform the confidential, highly technical work of the City Government and served the appointing authority, are at risk of being replaced.
The chief of the City Legal Office, Rey Gealon, already resigned his post effective Oct. 8 after he filed his certificate of candidacy for city councilor in the south district in the May 2022 elections.
Also to be examined is whether the employment of the consultants under the Office of the Mayor could be considered coterminous, meaning that their service would also end when the service of the one who appointed them to their positions ends.
Lazy, quarrelsome
But casual and job order workers at City Hall whose goal is to serve in their respective offices need not worry.
“No one should be afraid, as long as you are not a thief, dirty, lazy, quarrelsome, gossipy, an intriguer, mocking, one to take advantage of others, a complainer about the workload, selfish, or an employee who does not know how to do anything,” Rama said.
The new mayor has set up a “shadow cabinet” that will oversee, coordinate, collaborate and cooperate with the 27 departments to provide feedback to Rama on how he may run the City Government over the next seven months.