NEW people have been appointed to head some departments of the Cebu City Hall through a reshuffling done recently as the City Hall aims to reduce its workforce from 9,000 to 3,000 before 2025.
But Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival, minority floor leader, said in a text message on Monday, October 2, 2023, that the move is detrimental to the City’s delivery of services, as some department programs will be disrupted.
He said the new heads will need significant time to adopt and learn their new responsibilities.
He added that the department will lose institutional expertise, and the new head will need to acclimatize to the intricacies of the department.
Meanwhile, he said that the reshuffled heads might face resistance and morale issues, which could lead to decreased productivity.
Archival also said that if the department heads are reshuffled based on party or vested interests of the administrator, it undermines the effectiveness and professionalism of the City Government.
On Monday, October 2, 2023, during the flag raising ceremony at the Plaza Sugbo Grounds, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama assured that all City Government employees will be rehired, except those who are known to be lazy and involved in internet trolling, making allegations against him.
Rama said he has the initial list of employees who are involved in internet trolling, adding that the list is composed of 263 individuals.
At present, the City Hall has 1,345 regular employees, 3,000 casual employees, and 3,000 job orders.
According to Rama, the rotation of department heads is his way of ensuring that Cebu achieves a Singapore-like status.
Rama said that any department heads who do not perform their duties well will be presumed to be involved in illegal activities, such as corruption.
During the ceremony, Rama also introduced the new department heads of several offices in the City Government.
Among those appointed are lawyer Carlo Vincent Gemina, Cebu City Legal Officer; Liezl Calamba, Assistant City Administrator’s Officer; Wilfredi Pesquera Jr., Internal Audit Service Office head; lawyer Melvin Legaspi, People’s Law Enforcement Board representative of the mayor; lawyer Rey Gealon, Traffic Management Coordination Committee Board chairman; Reymarr Hijarra, Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office head; lawyer Paolo Manit, legal support under lawyer Collin Rosell; and Lito Ruiz, overseer for the Sugbo Bike Lanes. (AML)