Taguig mayor Cayetano cries foul, claims COA cleared issue

By: Kristine Felisse Mangunay - 10 years ago

MANILA, Philippines—Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano on Thursday decried what she said was the deliberate distortion of some of the Commission on Audit (COA) findings for 2013 aimed at “malign(ing) the reputation of Taguig as a city with a hard stance against corruption.”

Cayetano did not say in the statement who she thought was behind the supposed distortion but her husband, Sen. Alan Cayetano, has earned the ire of several of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s allies for his acerbic criticisms of him in Senate hearings on the alleged overpricing of Makati City Hall Building II.

For one, according to the mayor, the COA report that was said to have accused the local government of employing “ghost employees” had also “already made it clear” that “there are no ghost employees in Taguig.”

Mayor Lani Cayetano. FILE PHOTO

COA cleared issue

“The COA already cleared this issue in its report. So why is it being resurrected in the media?” she asked.

To clarify the supposed bogus claim of ghost employees, the COA said the “biometric machine readings of daily time records were the basis of the [human resource management office] in the preparation of payrolls for these personnel,” said Taguig City Administrator Joel Montales, a lawyer.

“For those not using the biometric machine, the manual time records are the basis of payroll preparation. Payroll payments are made through Land Bank of the Philippines automated teller machine[s] …. Verification disclosed that the personnel in the above-mentioned programs were actually assigned/deployed to different offices in the absence or lack of regular personnel performing regular functions/services,” Montales quoted the COA as saying.

“We in Taguig categorically deny this bogus claim [of ghost employees]. The truth is the [supposed ghost employees] are warm bodies and they make up the backbone of the local government’s programs,” the mayor said.

As for the supposed questionable practice of hiring job order personnel, Montales said the COA, “in a previous audit,” had “already acknowledged” that these personnel hired by Taguig City “augmented the present workforce.”

Montales said this practice was perfectly legal and had redounded to the benefit of the residents of Taguig City.

‘Perfectly legal’

He added that the personnel’s “engagement” had “significantly contributed to the successful implementation of the various social programs introduced by [Taguig City], especially in the fields of health and education.”

According to the mayor, these “innovative social programs” that “require work beyond regular office hours and even during weekends and holidays” include a “house-to-house delivery of free medicine for asthma, diabetes and hypertension; distribution of senior citizens’ allowance; scholarship distribution; regular medical and dental missions; feeding and nutrition programs; information and education campaigns/training on solid waste management, waste collection and segregation.

“Disaster awareness and preparedness/basic emergency life-saving seminars; violence against women and children seminars; AIDS/HIV awareness and gender-sensitivity seminars and [focus group discussions]; continuous cleanup and dredging of waterways; census and tagging; maintenance of peace and order; and traffic management.”

To benefit Taguig’s residents

“All these programs are intended to be delivered for the benefit of [Taguig Citys] ’more or less 720,000 residents,” the mayor said, reiterating that the city’s job order personnel were working hard.

Montales defended the city government’s grant of incentives to job order personnel, saying this was “within the express powers of the city.”

He said the COA was “probably unaware” of what he said was a provision in the Local Government Code—Section 458 (a) (ix)— that supposedly allows the city to “authorize the payment of compensation to qualified person not in government service.”

According to the city administrator, the issue of missing medicines and supplies was a “burden” the present administration “inherited” from the previous administration.

Although he did not cite names, before Mayor Cayetano, Taguig’s local chief executive was Freddie Tiñga.