Legislators loosen belt-tightening in hiring

Despite shrinking cash resources of the government, the House of Representatives yesterday voted to approve three additional full-time employees for the Division of Sanitation Services over fears of potential delay in public service due to lack of manpower.

A joint resolution will seek the Department of Public Health to reprogram some of its funds to pay about $60,000 in total annual salary for the three new positions under the current budget allocation of the government.

The resolution was passed in a special House session yesterday and now heads to the Senate for approval before it becomes effective, according to representatives.

But some House members expressed reservation over the move to increase the FTE ceiling for the DPH sanitation division, which currently stands at 25, in light of budgetary crunch and deepening financial crisis of the commonwealth.

Rep. Manuel A. Tenorio asked for justification, noting that it will create new positions that may not be needed by the department and yet will entail additional costs for the government.

To convince the House to vote in favor of his resolution, Vice Speaker Jesus T. Attao said the additional employees are in fact being trained for the position under the Job Training Partnership or JTPA program of the government.

Since the six-month training taken by these people will expire by February next year, DPH will have to absorb them and convert their positions into a full-time regular job under government payroll, he said.

Each will get a $15,000 pay, but funds were not part of the appropriation allocated to the department in the 1999 fiscal spending package. “I will make sure that their salary is budgeted,” Attao told in an interview after the session.

While the legislature is allowed under the Constitution to approve additional employees on top of the FTE ceiling, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has restricted government hiring as part of the current austerity measures.

But the resolution stressed that service provided by the division has been hampered by lack of manpower to inspect businesses on compliance with the sanitation standards.

The office has received allotment of $573,611 for the payroll of 25 civil service employees under the appropriation bill passed by the legislature last September.

In November, the governor slashed $32.5 million from the $249.26 million fiscal budget due to continuos decline in actual revenue collections. At least 15 percent is expected to be cut from the allotment to all departments and agencies of the government to prevent huge shortfall by the end of 1999.

To bring down operational costs, Tenorio is also set to propose a cut by five to 10 percent in the salary of close to 5,000 government employees who eat up about 75 percent of the entire budget.