Abby Binay starts scrutiny of Peña’s acts as 1-yr Makati mayor

WITH A BINAY back in power in Makati City, it’s the turn of former Mayor Kid Peña to have his actions scrutinized.

A top aide of Mayor Abigail Binay said an investigation had begun into the appointment or promotion of over 200 City Hall employees which were approved by Peña’s administration allegedly during the election period, in violation of the Omnibus Election Code.

In an interview, Binay’s legal counsel Don Camiña said they were reviewing the records of 276 workers covered by personnel movements during Peña’s watch.

Peña, who was elected vice mayor in 2013, took over as mayor in June 2105 and held that post for about a year after Binay’s brother Junjun was ordered dismissed from the mayoralty by the Ombudsman over corruption charges.

“That’s what we’re focusing on at the moment. Once everything is in order, then we can move on to other matters, projects,” Camiña said in a recent interview.

The employees’ names were submitted to the Civil Service Commission (CSC), he added.

While the movements involved mostly all city hall departments and offices, Camiña could not immediately say how much they cost the local government since the human resources department was still awaiting the CSC’s confirmation on whether the appointments were legal.

Peña: They met requirements

Reached for comment, Peña said the promotions were allowed by an approving body and that they also passed the requirements of the CSC.

“These employees had already rendered 28 to 29 years of service. They went through the right channels, they applied for the positions. If ever there were any illegal appointments, then the CSC must be questioned, too,” Peña said.

“Some of these employees have been working since [former Vice President Jejomar] Binay’s term as mayor. They were his employees, too,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mayor Binay noted that based on the recently released National Competitiveness Council’s (NCC) Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index, Makati slipped from third to fifth place in terms of government efficiency.

“It is sad that dirty politics have derailed the painstaking efforts of the Binay administration to continuously improve the efficiency of government services,” Binay said in a statement.

The mayor, however, lauded the fact that in NCC’s overall ranking of highly urbanized cities, Makati placed second while it was No. 1 in terms of economic dynamism, besting over 1,300 local government units.