City Hall workers for innovation project ‘not qualified’

By Gerome Dalipe IV

Several contractual personnel employed by the Iloilo City Government for its program supposedly to promote “innovation” in the city lacked the qualifications and expertise to perform the job.

The Commission on Audit (COA), in its annual audit report for 2022, said the contract of service (CoS) personnel who worked for the “Innovate Iloilo Project” do not possess the “technical expertise or experience” to carry out their tasks.

“Eligibility and experience are the primary considerations in ensuring the success and efficiency of project implementation; hence, it should not be adjusted to fit the qualifications of applicants but should be used as quality control to select the best available human resource to carry out the function,” read the COA report.

The Innovate Iloilo Project is an initiative program of the Department of Science and Technology Region 6 and is meant to promote and foster innovation across the metropolis.

The DOST passed on the implementation of the program to the City Government, which hired contractual workers allegedly without approved terms of reference nor qualification standards aligned with the approved position.

The City and DOST agreed on June 20, 2022, and the latter granted P3 million to the City as the implementing agency of the Innovate Iloilo Project.

In the agreement, the City Government agreed to prepare and submit a semi-annual financial report and to be certified correct by the agency accountant, and duly received by the COA auditor of the implementing agency.

However, the auditors’ review of the semestral financial report by the end of December 31, 2022, which was prepared by the project leader, showed that the only expenditure they incurred was the wages of the two contract-based workers totaling P117,161.99.

The engagement process and qualification standards of these contractual workers also showed that they have a similar contract rate of P16,286.40 as project assistant I.

A comparison of the qualifications and experiences of the workers showed that the project technical assistant and IT support staff do not have eligibility and experience.

Likewise, the approved project line budget of Innovate Iloilo showed that it does not have items for project technical assistant I. Instead, the City Hall required two project assistant II and one clerk with monthly rates of PhP25,446.00 and PhP16,286.00, respectively.

The review of the terms of reference (TOR) of the COS workers showed inconsistency in the requirement for experience.

As required, COA said the administrative support staff should have at least one year of experience while the IT support staff did not have the same requirement.

Likewise, the auditors said competency requirements for the two COS were generic and could not be quantifiably assessed.

The personnel’s term of reference was neither reviewed by the Human Resource Management and Development Office nor approved by the representatives of the City Government and the DOST VI.

Thus, the auditors said the change in the required position and the content of terms of reference is not valid.

The auditors also noted that the contract of the contractual workers did not provide for specific output or deliverables nor was it supported with individual work plans.

“Hence, milestones and accomplishments of each worker could not be reasonably assessed while accountability on delays or failure of the project could not be enforced,” the auditors said.

The auditors said they referred their observation to the project leader, who confirmed that the position of project assistant I was used instead of project assistant II for the IT support staff because the workers included lacked experience.

The project leader reasoned that the change in the position also included a reduction in the supposed salary of the IT personnel, hence, there were savings generated.

Likewise, the project head admitted that her office formulated the terms of reference but did not submit them to the appropriate authority for review and approval.

The project leader admitted they did not prepare the individual work plans because they were not required to do it. However, she agreed to prepare an individual work plan for each of the workers effectively and use the same to assess their efficiency.

In the audit report, COA stressed that contractual workers are hired because of their technical expertise or experience. Hence, it is a must that the selection process be standardized and eligibility requirements must be set.

Likewise, the auditors said that any modification in the memorandum terms should always be approved by the parties who executed the same. The auditors said that a project leader may recommend but may not execute amendments without proper authority.

The City’s Human Resource Management Office is also tasked to reevaluate and review the hiring process of the subject concerned contractual workers as well as the propriety of the change in the position they filled.

During the exit conference, the city welfare development officer assured to compliance with the recommendations in hiring personnel for the project Innovate Iloilo.