Manila judge slams shabby treatment of city hall casuals

A Manila judge, who last month reinstated over a thousand dismissed casual and contractual workers under Vice Mayor Isko Moreno and the city council, denied the city government’s appeal for failure to present new arguments.

Judge Daniel Villanueva also expressed alarm over the kind of treatment extended to the workers, saying they should be considered like permanent employees “in terms of human dignity.”

“The court is concerned or apprehensive of what appears to be a rather cavalier attitude by some high city officials when it comes to the fate of their casual employees,” Villanueva said on Friday.

He noted that the council had set aside funds for the workers’ salaries at the start of the year, and that Mayor Alfredo Lim had signed the appropriation without vetoing any portion of the city’s budget.

“The executive branch has no recourse but to implement it,” he said.

The mass layoffs caused a rift between Lim and Moreno (the former actor Francisco Domagoso off-screen) and drove the latter to break their longtime alliance and join the camp of former President Joseph Estrada, Lim’s apparent rival in next year’s elections. Miko Morelos