It could be a bleak new year for many of the 1,500 Job Order employees appointed by dismissed Governor Roel Degamo, whose contracts are set to expire on December 31.
Newly-assumed Gov. Mark Macias said he will limit the hiring of Job Order employees to those whose heads of office would certify as “essential” to their operations.
Macias said those who would not be reappointed starting January 1st might have a chance of getting back their jobs if Degamo is able to secure a Status Quo Ante order from the Court of Appeals.
The 1,500 Job Order workers are almost equal to the number of Regular Employees of the Province.
Degamo is serving a 90-day Preventive Suspension in connection with the criminal case before the Sandiganbayan for spending Calamity Funds without a Special Allotment Release Order for infrastructure projects in the wake of the damage wrought by Typhoon Sendong and the First District Earthquake in 2013.
This Dismissal Order, on the other hand, resulted from an Administrative Case before the Office of the Ombudsman, which found Degamo guilty of spending P10 Million in Intelligence Funds when it was not part of the 2013 Provincial Budget.
The Ombudsman also ordered the filing of charges against the former governor for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The dismissal order against Degamo also means he is prohibited from ever holding public office again and his retirement benefits are forfeited.
Macias said he is still waiting to see if Degamo could secure legal relief before he starts implementing his plans for the Province.
Macias made the statement to reporters in Bacolod City, when he attended the birthday celebration of Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Maranon.
“We started to institutionalize some things, but I think it’s prudent to wait for [a] few weeks, one or two weeks, to find out whether Governor Degamo can come back. Otherwise, by January, we will have to go full steam ahead already,” Macias said.
Macias assured the people of Negros Occidental that with him at the helm, the relationship between Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental would “never change.”
“We have found each other. We’re twins separated at birth. I don’t think we will ever change, we are one already… with or without Negros Island Region, we are together,” he told the journalists.
