Insisting that they were not coddling ghost employees in their offices, Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte has ordered a tighter screening process for personnel of the Sangguniang Panlunsod to dispel allegations of the existence of ghost employees.
She told the Tribune that the process would maintain a more responsive and competent workforce particularly at the city council of which she is the presiding officer.
Belmonte was joined by Councilors Jesus Manuel Suntay of District 4 and Eufemio Lagumbay of District 3 during her inspection of workers later in the day at the legislative building.
The vice mayor and the two lawmakers expressed full confidence that the tighter screening process would restore the good image of their institution and erase doubts about alleged irregularities in the legislative workforce.
Belmonte said Suntay and Lagumbay and heads of the personnel and budget departments were part of the screening team.
She told members of the Quezon City Press Club that all employees in the city council and her office would be interviewed, photographed, thumb-marked and such personnel information will be recorded in its database.
Representatives from the Commission on Audit (CoA) and other concerned local departments were invited to observe the screening process, the vice mayor said.
Advocating full transparency in government transactions, Belmonte has also invited the media and the public to attend the inspection and report cases of ghost employees, if any.
For his part, Lagumbay said the move will send a strong message that irregularities are not tolerated in the city government.
He echoed his colleagues’ stand that they would not tolerate ghost employees in their respective offices.
Earlier, the Office of the Ombudsman suspended Councilors Francisco Calalay of District 1 and Roderick Paulate of District 2 for six months without pay for allegedly keeping some ghost employees in their respective offices.
Calalay and Paulate have long denied they were keeping ghost employees but the anti-graft office pushed through with the order implemented last week by the Department of Interior and Local Government after finding “enough evidence” to pin them down on the charges.