With
this one-liner, neophyte Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas gave department heads of the
city government here a big scare as she outlined her priority agenda in the
first 100 days of her fledgling administration.
In
her first meeting with the various department heads at City Hall here Tuesday,
Cuevas, who won by landslide over former three-term congressman Pacifico
Fajardo, asked her official family not to judge her for being testy, outspoken
and frank.
“Give
me the benefit of the doubt,” she told over a dozen department heads as she
presided over the meeting.
The
feisty Cuevas continuously ribbed some of the department heads, including one
believed to be fiercely loyal to her rival. She also took a dig at the chief of
the city’s emergency hospital, likening the facility into a Christmas light
that occasionally closes and opens.
Then
in a one-liner that nearly made everybody fell off their seats, Cuevas blurted
out : “if you have fears that I will fire you, don’t worry, I am waiting for
you to resign.”
Her
statement came like a bombshell to her audience who fell silent.
But
Cuevas later clarified that there would be no reorganization of City Hall
personnel. She said, however, that officials whose contracts are co-terminus
with their appointing authority and casuals will have to go.
As
to the firing of some of the department heads, she said she has not issued an
official statement nor instruction to this effect, hinting her one-liner issued
earlier was just a joke.
“Of
course, there will be a performance audit of the various department heads but
remove them? I won’t do it,” she said. (Manny Galvez)
