Cut out deadwood, senator urges

A legislator yesterday prodded Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to cut off special government contracts under non-essential services in place of a plan to reduce salary of the 5,000-strong work force, including civil service employees.

Senate Vice President Thomas P. Villagomez claimed some current employees were in fact contracted out of political indebtedness despite the shaky financial posture of the cash-strapped government.

“There is still a lot of political hire in the payroll of the government,” the senator told in an interview. He did not elaborate or give details.

But records showed that about a third of the total 4,991 full-time employees under the spending level approved for FY 1999 are ungraded, most of whom are employed by the Department of Public Health.

More than 75 percent of the fiscal budget is allocated for government payroll alone and administration officials may propose a salary reduction between five to 10 percent to bring down public expenditures.

But Villagomez said the administration should look into the hiring practice and review the employment contract of these people to determine whether their services are critical to government operations.

“We’re really in a financial dilemma,” he explained, “and the first thing that we need to look at are those non-essential contracts, especially those that are going to expire soon.”

Tenorio should start giving a 90-day termination notice to contractual employees who are not needed at this time of deepening financial crisis in the commonwealth, according to the senator.

Administration sources have disclosed they have asked others whose contract is expiring soon that they will be retrenched because of the austerity policy in effect since January this year.

“These employees should be the first ones to leave,” Villagomez pointed out, adding the review will help decide whether the government is paying them way over the salary scale or whether they are providing essential services.

But he maintained teachers, medical workers and public safety personnel should be exempted from the plan. “There are other departments and agencies which can survive without a 40-hour per week service,” Villagomez said.

The Northern Marianas is reeling from its worst crisis in years spawned by the continued economic upheaval in Asia, the island’s main source of investments and tourism revenues.

Due to the constant drop in actual revenue collections, Tenorio is expected to unveil a package of new cost-cutting measures to meet the anticipated shortfall in the budget amounting to at least $32.5 million by the end of September next year.