City Hall to let go half of 42 advisers

An environment advocate  and a former mayor will be retained as advisers of Cebu City Hall.

But about half  of the city’s 42 consultants may not get their contracts renewed based on recommendations of a review committee, said Belinda Navasquez, secretary to Mayor Michael Rama.

She wouldn’t give other details since the mayor has yet to act on the report.

She said the committee, of which she is a member, drew up an initial list of the 10  consultants that the city government “cannot do without.”  She named Nestor Archival, a  former councilor who is now an environment consultant  and former city mayor Florentino Solon, a nutrition consultant. Both are paid a token  P1 a year for their services.

Most of the 42 consultants came on board during the past administration.  Only  nine are assigned under Mayor Rama’s office.  The rest are  assigned with the City Council, special agencies and other  offices.

The mayor’s consultants are Leonardo Chiu as  political risk analyst and  speech writer Rene Bautista,  Archival, Eugene Elizalde for property and organizational development and former councilor Procopio Fernandez for cooperatives and livelihood.

Others are  Paul Hubahib for utilities and corporate relations; Manuel Legaspi for legal and administrative matters; Janyses Ponce for health, environment and waste management; and Elvis Sumosot for music, arts and culture.

Navasquez said retired police officer Col. Romeo Cordova wasn’t rehired as  security consultant.

A performance evaluation of department heads and employees is still ongoing.

“I am doing this because it’s tiring to remind them that they should be working because they’re all adults,” Rama said in a press conference. He said some contractuals will be reduced to three months.

“If you do not perform according to my standard, you will all be up to three months only,” Rama told department heads in a meeting held at his office yesterday morning.

City Hall has a total of 5,000 personnel, which include 3,000 casual workers and 2,000 regular employees. /Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac