So what if there are more than 11,000 contractual workers on Davao City’s payroll?
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he was not bothered at the very least by the Commission on Audit report questioning his decision to hire 11,246 contractual workers in 2014 alone, which cost the city government some P708 million.
In his weekly television show “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” in June 2015, Duterte explained that he hired contractual workers to take fare of garbage collection and driving, among other tasks. Some also do intelligence gathering, he added.
The contractual workers’ salaries, he said, were taken from the city’s fund for operational expenses.
You don’t expect plantilla workers to collect garbage, don’t you?” he asked. “And garbage collectors are working in the city on three shifts,” Duterte said.
“The SCAAs (Special Civilian Active Auxiliary), the soldiers roaming around Davao, I’m paying them,” Duterte said. “They’re part of the intelligence apparatus roaming the city.”
COA noted in its report the absence of guidelines for the hiring of contractual workers by the Davao City government, which it said makes the arrangement prone to patronage politics.
“The city has no written policy or manual on the hiring of employees particularly under contract of services and job orders. Identification of persons to be hired for such nature rests directly upon the recommendation of the department heads and other officials of the city,” the report read.
But Duterte said that as mayor, he can add as much contractual workers as he wants to ensure Davao City remains clean and orderly, especially since it’s a vast area.
“I am the mayor, I decide how much I spend and how many will work for the interest of the city,” he said.
[bctt tweet=”Duterte tells COA: “Ghost employees” none of your business”]
