Lazatin supporters file raps vs Pamintuan personnel

Ten individuals, who are supporters of Representative Carmelo Lazatin, have filed illegal arrest and physical injuries against personnel of Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan.

Lazatin's supporters were arrested and allegedly harassed and threatened by Pamintuan's allies and men led by Jesse Eres, head of the Angeles City Entertainment Promotion Office (Acepo).

Charged were Eres, other Acepo officers, and officials from the Angeles City Police Station 4 located in Barangay Balibago.

The 10 individuals were arrested by City Traffic Aides on February 3 in Barangay Balibago here while distributing flyers, containing joint affidavit hitting the mayor in connection with the job orders issue at the City Government.

The 10 were taken to the Acepo, where they were reportedly harassed by Acepo personnel and even threatened by Eres.

According to reports, at least two of the apprehended individuals were "strangled" by Acepo personnel.

Eres reportedly told the apprehended individuals, "Papate da ka, ugse da ka Abacan, bayaran dakang P200,000 (I will have you killed, I'll throw you off Abacan (bridge), I'll pay P200,000 for you).”

The apprehended individuals were then transferred to Station 4 where all 10 of them, two of whom are minors, were detained for almost seven hours.

They were identified as Roger Sumala, Jeffrey Sumala, Yoshiko Canque, Princess Gopez, Kristina Arceo, John Michael Delusa, Nicole Ramos, Paolo Sumala, and two minors.

The flyers being distributed by the apprehended individuals contain the joint statement issued by village councilmen William David (Barangay Lourdes Northwest), Roy Ogurida (Barangay Cutcut), Renato Coronel (Barangay Salapungan), Nenita Ferrer (Barangay Margot), and Oliver Chaneco (Barangay Santo Domingo) assailing the Pamintuan administration for the alleged inclusion of the names of the village officials' relatives in the list of the job order employees without their knowledge.

Eres denied threatening to kill one of the arrested persons. He said it is not in his personality to have someone killed.

by Reynaldo Navales

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