THE Personnel Selection Board (PSB) at Cebu City Hall has been ordered to fast-track the hiring of regular employees after state auditors flagged the City for excessive hiring of job order (JO) and casual employees.
Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia told SunStar Cebu on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, that he had been urging the PSB to hire employees and place them in plantilla or regular positions.
“We are very serious about filling up the regular positions,” Garcia said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Garcia issued the statement after the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the City Government for its failure to fill 2,311 open plantilla positions, or 63.4 percent of the approved plantilla as of Dec. 31, 2023, despite the availability of P2.1 billion in appropriations for personal services. This had defeated the goal of the staffing pattern mandated by Section 76 of Republic Act 7160, it said.
The COA further said in its 2023 audit report that this had an impact on the City Government’s general operations and ability to provide services to its citizens.
State auditors said just 1,334, or 36.6 percent, of the 3,645 authorized plantilla posts held by the City Government were filled.
Garcia said leadership change every three years often leads to widespread replacement of JO and casual employees.
“The sad reality of this is sometimes man god, magsige tag ilis-ilis og administration every after three years (administration changes every after three years). So, of course, ang employees sa previous administration inig abot sa bag-o, papha gyud na tanan (the employees of the previous administration will be replaced once the new administration takes its place). That’s why some don’t like to put permanent employees,” Garcia said.
Ongoing recruitment
Meanwhile, Henry Tomalabcad, Human Resource Development Office head, said in a separate phone interview on Friday, that the recruitment for regular City Hall employees is ongoing.
Tomalabcad said the recruitment is now digitized through the City’s e-Prime online portal which can be used for the applicant to not just find available job offerings at the City Hall but also to submit their requirements. E-Prime stands for Electronic Portal for Requirement and Integrated Management and Employment.
“We’ve digitized our recruitment system with e-Prime. So far, we’ve posted over 400 positions and received about 600 applications,” Tomalabcad said in Cebuano.
The positions are open to all applicants, including current JO personnel, casual employees, and external candidates. Tomalabcad expressed confidence in filling the positions but noted that the process might extend beyond this year due to Civil Service requirements.
The City is also planning to implement online examinations to streamline the hiring process further.
“This will allow applicants to take exams remotely, even from other locations like Manila,” Tomalabcad said.
About 6,700 people are employed by Cebu City Hall this year, comprising JO, casual, and permanent employees. Approximately 2,100 plantilla positions are available.
There are 2,776 temporary workers and 1,321 permanent staff in City Hall.
Tomalabcad said their goal is to fill all open plantilla positions.
“We conduct interviews twice a week,” he said. / JPS