JVR: Relatives to go after 100 days
Talisay City Mayor Johnny V. De los Reyes (JVR) admits hiring his relatives for security reasons.
Their stay in the City Hall, he added is also temporary and he will sack them after his 100 days in office.
The neophyte politician said he needs to correct a lot of things in the city government thus he needed his relatives to be around him.
Hazel Bathan, head of Human Resource Management Office said that the mayor did not violate the law against nepotism because he has the discretion to hire relatives under his confidential staff, as long as it does not exceed seven personnel.
On the issue of cutting down job order employees, Delos Reyes said his relatives are among those no longer hired by City Hall starting yesterday.
The mayor appointed his son John Yre Delos Reyes as city administrator. His brother Joel Delos Reyes is now the head of the motorpool. His son’s wife also works in the City Hall.
City Councilor Dennis Basilote, a member of the Alayon Party hit Delos Reyes for lack of delicadesa.
“Out of delicadesa lang pud unta dili unta niya buhaton kay mao man kaha na ang iyang tumong sa iyang bag-ong administrasyon,” Basillote said.
(He should not have done it out of propriety because he has been claiming that his administration will change the old ways.) Delos Reyes has been subject of criticism especially from those who volunteered in his campaign when he decided to cut down the number of job orders employees starting yesterday.
Two weeks ago, the mayor approved the hiring of job order employees from 1,159 in the previous administration to 1,901.
Last week he said this will have to be cut down as the budget for other services of the city government may be affected.
Job order employees are paid out of the Maintenance, Operations and Other Expenses item of the budget.
This practice is common among government agencies to shore up human resources without surpassing the Personnel Expenses cap provided by law. /Correspondent Gabriel C. Bonjoc and Christine Emily L. Pantaleon
