GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/08 November) — The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has recalled the appointments of 46 officials and employees of the city government who were hired several weeks before the May elections.
Lawyer Arnel Zapatos, city administrator, said Friday the CSC issued a resolution earlier this week revoking the appointments to regular or permanent positions of the 46 workers due to violations of various civil service regulations.
He said the CSC’s decision was based on the mandatory review it conducted on the appointments.
Zapatos said the recalled officials and employees were appointed by former city mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio several weeks before the May 13 local and national midterm elections.
Custodio, who was backed by the administration Liberal Party, lost her bid for a second term as city mayor to former top councilor Ronnel Rivera.
Zapatos did not identify the recalled workers but among those who earlier received a permanent appointment was former city administrator Jose Mariano Gonzales as city treasurer.
“As far as the CSC is concerned, their appointments have been disapproved,” he told reporters.
Citing the CSC resolution, the official said the appointments violated the provisions of the commission’s Memorandum Circular No. 10.
Zapatos said it cited that their appointments were made en masse and unnecessary as the May election was already approaching then.
He said the CSC found out that some of the appointed employees were not qualified for their positions based on qualification standards.
“The documents submitted by some of the appointees to support their applications were also incomplete,” he said.
Zapatos added that Mayor Rivera has expressed support to the CSC’s decision and vowed to initiate the necessary reforms to ensure that the city government observed the proper hiring processes. (MindaNews)
