Mayor Edpam faces graft raps over job order workers

 A veteran newsman has filed graft and corruption charges before the Ombudsman against Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan and several others in connection with the 2,506 “job order” employees of the City Government.

Robledo Sanchez filed the case before the Office of the Ombudsman based on documents he gathered, including appointment papers of job order employees signed by Pamintuan, his secretary Kirk Galanza, and City Administrator Dennis Albert Pamintuan.

Sanchez stated that from July 1, 2012 to September 20, 2012, the job order employees of the City Government have reached 2,506, outnumbering the total number of City Hall’s regular (815), contractual (39) and casual employees (357).

The said job order appointments account for almost 70 percent of the city’s total manpower.

“Nakakapagtaka dahil kung ang lahat ng mga job order na ito ay totoo, pumapasok at hindi ghost employee, sa kanila pa lang, punong-puno na ang City Hall,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said the appointment of the “job orders” is a violation of Civil Service Commission (CSC) Memorandum Circular No. 17 Series of 2002, dated June 24, 2002, which states that contracts for job order employees should be submitted to the CSC Regional Office to be reviewed on whether the said contracts are complying with CSC guidelines.

Job order employees are being paid on a daily basis and receive no benefits usually given to regular employees, like GSIS, PAG-IBIG, among others.

Aside from Pamintuan, City Accountant Wilfredo Tiotuico, City Budget Officer Fe Corpuz, City Treasurer Juliet Quinsaat and other department heads were also charged for violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officials and Employees.

Here’s a statement of Mayor Ed Pamintuan in response to the case on job order employees

Lazatin Hireling

(Representative Carmelo) Lazatin is at the height of desperation in the filing of a case against me that is clearly politically motivated.

We have in fact heard of this case months ago, just after Lazatin announced his candidacy. Robling Sanchez, a self-styled media person, is just a hireling of Lazatin.

The matter of hiring job order (JO) employees was also a practice of Lazatin when he was mayor. Most if not all local government units (LGUs), as well as National Government agencies, resort to hiring job orders and contract of service employees because of the limited number of plantilla positions, particularly if an LGU is implementing many programs and projects.

All the JOs we hired are doing specific tasks from being street sweepers, traffic enforcers, market guards, day care workers, barangay health workers, hospital staff, fiscal and court personnel to program heads.

Many of these JOs are working on the field as street sweepers, traffic aides, garbage collectors, sanitary workers, among others. Not all are working in the offices of the city hall building.

Even Dr. Marietta Gaddi, the vice president of the City College of Angeles, is a job order employee. She has a PhD. Bishop Joe Briones, who is head of the Task Force One Million Trees, is also a JO employee. Most of our nurses and health workers, who deal with life and death situations, are likewise job order employees.

I have eight programs with 27 components under my contract with the Angeleños. These programs are mostly implemented by JOs.

We also have JOs who were hired by Lazatin himself, and whom we retained because of the nature of their tasks, which is continuing, such as street sweeping and garbage collecting.

These JOs are actually not considered as government employees, and are without the usual benefits of regular employees. They are hired to do specific tasks within a certain time frame. Their contracts range from three to six months, which is allowed under rules and regulations of the Civil Service Commission.

But during the time of Lazatin, it was reported that the caretakers of his cock farm and his house help are JOs paid by city hall. In fact, there were more JOs during the time of my predecessor.

by: Reynaldo Navales