ILOILO City – Mayor Jerry P. Treñas disclosed three city hall employees are being investigated for alleged lending activities with illegal conditions.
The city mayor earlier directed the City Legal Office to verify if there is indeed a department head or an executive assistant with such business taking advantage of employees, especially job hires.
“Ang isa nga gin-report sa’kon indi ka masweldohan kon indi ka maghulam or indi ka mag-renew, kon indi ka da maghulam sa iya. Ang isa pa gusto ko tan-awon kon may ara gid man gapahulam, pila ang interest. Kay, ti, maluoy man ta sa mga tawo nga nagakinanglan,” Treñas told Iloilo City Hall reporters.
One of the names that surfaced was Ninda Atinado, head of the city’s beautification team. But she reportedly denied it in media interviews and when Treñas instructed someone to ask her about the allegation.
The city mayor assured everything will go through a process.
“Kung may ara nga gusto maghatag information, hatag lang nila kay Atty. Joseph Areño kon nakulbaan sila sa akon…they will go through a process. We just make sure this process will be followed para mahatagan man sila due process,” the city mayor added.
Treñas admitted lending activities at the city hall have been in existence since he was a city councilor in 1986. He said this cannot be stopped especially there are employees who need money, thus they engaged in money lending.
The same is happening in other local government units, he added.
“Ugaling ang isa lang nga indi lang ta gusto gina-usar ang posisyon sang isa ka tawo para mang-ipit sa mga empleyado nga naga utang,” the city mayor said.
Meanwhile, Treñas called for a meeting with the city’s accountant and administrator to streamline the requirements for the job hires for the renewal of their contracts. The compliance of the requirements is one of the reasons cited for the delay of their salaries. Because of the delay, some job hires resorted to borrowing money.
Treñas said one option is to do away with the requirements such as National Bureau of Investigation clearance and Bureau of Internal Revenue registration./PN