A MINORITY member of the Misamis Oriental Provincial Board is pushing for a probe over the alleged "ghost employees" in the capitol's legislative body.
In his privilege speech on Monday, June 4, board member Frederick Khu said he received a report from concerned residents that "ghost workers" exist in the provincial board.
Ghost employees are workers who are on the payroll but are not actually working for the institution.
Khu said the allegations must be looked into for the sake of transparency and to protect the the integrity of the board.
But Khu said his initiative did not sit well with some of his colleagues who reacted and supposedly told him that the matter should have been brought up first in a private meeting first before it was raised in the plenary.
"Naay nag-accuse nga daghan daw ghost employees sa among department busa ko nag-privilege speech. Pero natingala ko kay nagreact naman sila ug nasuko busa nagubot gamay nga ang akong intention raman unta is maimbestigahan para malimpyo mi sa panan-aw sa katawhan nga nag-ingon nga naay ghost employees (My privilege speech was prompted by allegations regarding the presence of ghost employees in our department. I only want the accusations probed so that people will not think that there are indeed ghost employees)," Khu added.
Khu clarified that he is not referring to the staff of Vice Governor Joey Pelaez and the rest of the board members as the supposed employees. Pelaez and the other board members have staff who are employed under the "job order" (JO) status.
But Khu said it may be necessary to call all their JO personnel to validate their respective statuses.
Khu said he would urge the board to summon the provincial treasurer and accountant to help clear the issue as he will not stop elevating the matter in the plenary unless it is resolved.
He explained that as an elected public servant he wants this issue to be addressed.
"Dili ko gyud ni undangan kay dili ni pwede magpabilin nga question mark sa utok sa mga tawo busa dapat ni siya matuldokan (I will not let this go until it is resolved. This should not remain a question mark in the minds of the people)," he said.
