No more delays city hall streamlines job orders blames budget officer for late pay

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

THE Iloilo City government assured that job order workers starting February 2018 will not experience any more delays.

“Subong ara na ang job orders and naga-look forward kita effective this year and effective February pati sweldo tawhay na,” City Administrator Atty. Hernando Galvez said.

According to Galvez, they have streamlined the process for the job order workers by reducing the number of signatories.

“Subong si mayor and ang contractors concerned or job hires na lang maga-pirma. Apat gid ang nadula. Sang una pagpirma sang naga prepare sa opisina, papirmahan pa sa mayor, then papirmahan sa budget, treasurer, and diri pa sa aton,” he said.

The signatories from the City Budget Office, City Treasures Office, and the City Administrators Office were not included in the processing because of the delay, according to Galvez.

He blamed the recent delay of the job orders to the City Budget Office.

“Ang nagpadugay lang sang job order sang aton mga tawo amo ang opisina sang City Budget Office because na-delay sila sa pagrelease sang allotment release orders (AROs),” he said.

Galvez also denied allegations that the Office of the Mayor is the cause of the delay of job orders.

“Si Mayor bisan sa diin biskan sa elevator, mapirma na. Instruction sang mayor pirmahan dayon unless  may makita nga glaring mistakes,” he said.

With the new protocol, Galvez hopes that there will be no more delays in the release of job orders.

“Ginapasiguardo naton nga every end of the month, first days of the month, marelease na dayon ang JO, no delays. Kon may delay pa, ila na ya nga pagprocess,” he said.

Galvez added that he already instructed the Internal Audit Service Office to examine the processing from office to office to prevent the possible delay of salaries.

“Ang sweldo I already instructed verbally ang Internal Audit Service Office to be followed sang written order for them to examine kay may gina-istoryahan na kita na proseso para ang kada opisina magaakto properly. We will make the office accountable,” he stressed.

On January 9, 2019, Mayor Jose Espinosa III directed the City Budget Officer to prepare all AROs on the basis of the 2019 Annual Budget except for the vetoed items where the AROs should be based on the 2018 Annual Budget through Memorandum Order No. 6 series of 2019.

The City Budget Officer was also ordered to immediately release upon receipt the following:

-ARO for personal services and associated personal services costs for the whole year, ARO for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) for the whole year 2019;

-ARO for financial expenses for the whole year 2019; and

-ARO for Capital Expenditures.

“In accordance with the provisions of the Budget Operations Manual for Local Government Units (LGUs), the AROs shall be submitted without delay to the office of the city government of Iloilo and thereafter be recorded in the proper registry by the City Budget Officer and the City Accountant,” the memorandum said.

The order came a day after the Sangguniang Panlungsod failed to override the veto of Mayor Espinosa on the P2.318-billion annual budget for 2019 last Jan 8, 2019.