CORDOVA town Mayor Cesar “Didoy” Suan has assured all job order (JO) employees in the local government that the evaluation for the renewal of their contracts will be based on their performance, not politics.
As for the department heads under his predecessor, Suan believed that most of them did not vote for him in the May 9 elections.
Despite this, the new mayor said the more than 10 department heads will be judged on how they perform their job.
Suan said he already met with all the department heads two weeks before he assumed office. He assured them that they will not be terminated or transferred as long as they will do their best to help develop Cordova, a third-class municipality.
As for the JO employees, the businessman-turned-politician said they were asked to submit new applications to work in the local government unlike during the term of former mayor Mary Therese “Teche” Sitoy-Cho wherein there was no renewal of contracts.
“Ako silang giingnan nga we have to change the process. Paglingkod nako... amoa sang i-renew ang contract regardless og Asenso man ka or Kayab, mibotar man ka nako or wala,” Suan said.
(I told them that we have to change the process. When I assumed office n my term, we would renew the contract regardless if you belong to Asenso or Kayab, whether you voted for me or not.)
Suan said there will be a reevaluation after a month or two.
“Mahawa gani ka, meaning wala ka ni-perform og insakto. Dili na tungod kay wala ka nibotar nako,” he added.
(If you are fired, it means you did not perform well. Not voting for me is not the basis.)
Suan ran under Team Asenso, while Sitoy-Cho ran under Team Kayab Cordovanhon.
The new mayor, however, revealed that some JO employees who supported Sitoy-Cho have volunteered to quit working in the local government.
There are over 200 job order and over 20 contract of service employees during Sitoy-Cho’s term.
Sitoy-Cho on Sunday, July 3, denied the allegations hurled against her by the neophyte mayor concerning the non-renewal of contracts for JO employees.
“Of course, that’s not true. We have the renewal every three months,” Sitoy-Cho told SunStar Cebu.
Suan, who was the first councilor in the town of Cordova, defeated Sitoy-Cho in the May 9 elections, as he secured 21,222 votes compared to the latter’s 17,052 votes.
Sitoy-Cho’s camp had filed a motion for disqualification against Suan before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) central office.
A week after the elections, Sitoy-Cho said her camp would also file an election protest against the Comelec officials, barangay captains, tanods (watchmen), barangay health workers and teachers who were reportedly involved in the election irregularities that led to the defeat of the majority of her slate.
She said more than 100 people had witnessed the irregularities that included vote buying, individuals voting more than once, unregistered voters voting, and the existence of pre-shaded ballots.
Suan denied the allegations hurled against him, saying he became municipal councilor for the past 15 years without buying any vote, and he believed that the Cordovahanons did not want to sell their votes but wanted a change in the leadership of the town, which has been ruled by the Sitoys for almost 50 years.
Sitoy-Cho, however, clarified that it was only a disqualification case they filed directly to the Comelec.
“They sent a notice that they received the complaint and then we are waiting for the hearing because both parties are already informed,” she said.
Suan earlier said he would welcome the allegations hurled against him should he receive notice from the Comelec concerning the case.