Joy Belmonte won’t entertain endorsement letters for QC employees’ promotion

MANILA, Philippines – Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said on Friday, July 19, that she would not entertain recommendation letters from padrinos (sponsors) that city employees seeking promotion would submit. 

She would rather that they give her a biodata that shows their qualifications.  

“Lahat po ng gustong magpa-promote o ma-promote, ‘wag po kayong magdala ng recommendation letter sa padrino ‘nyo, at hindi na po kayo mapro-promote kahit sino pa man ang padrino mo,” Belmonte said during her meeting with the city’s Legislative Executive  Development Advisory Council Friday morning. 

(Those who want to get promoted, don’t bring me a recommendation letter from your sponsor. That won’t get you promoted, no matter who’s speaking for you.)

The LEDAC meeting was the first convened under Belmonte’s leadership. Belmonte and Vice Mayor Gian Sotto presented and explained their legislative and executive agenda during their watch.

It’s on Belmonte’s agenda to professionalize the city workforce. According to her, she receives “two-inch thick” complaints in her office daily, and saw this as a sign that the citizens’ concerns had not been properly addressed. 

While she rejected the idea of recommendations, Belmonte suggested an alternative for those who seek higher posts in the Quezon City executive and legislative departments. 

“Kung ang dinala mo sa akin ay biodata na may maganda kayong nagawa, may malasakit kayo sa inyong kapwa, marami kayong napagtagumpayang magagandang proyekto kahit na maliit lang ang inyong suweldo, baka maging department head pa kayo dito sa lungsod Quezon,” the  mayor said.  

(if you bring me a biodata that shows you’ve done something good, you care for others, you’ve implemented good projects despite your low salary, who knows you might end up as department head here in Quezon City.) 

The local government will produce a performance-based management system that establishes incentive systems for well-performing employees. The said system will draw key performance indicators from data produced by executive departments of Quezon City. 

Also part of Belmonte’s 14-point agenda are delivering responsive, efficient, and cost-effective social services, more homes, better healthcare, higher quality education, empowering citizens, disaster resilience, sustainable economic development, and job creation.

The planned incentive systems of Quezon City, on the other hand, will cover over 8,000 local government employees of the city.  – Rappler.com