The City Government is considering on having a neuro-psycho examination before hiring or promoting an employee of the city.
This after Mayor Sara Duterte received reports on employees who went berserk or not responsive to the public.
“We are looking at conducting a neuro-psycho exam for our employees to check on their capacity to work on the City Government of Davao,” said acting Human Resource Management (HRM) Officer Lemuel Ortonio in an interview on the sidelines of the Sister Cities Trade Fare at SM Lanang.
The City Government confirms that this is a plan of the administration especially after reports that there are mentally-ill employees in the local government.
“We are still looking for a provider,” Ortonio said. “We will consider on a small group but we are looking on having it on the whole employees of the city government.”
Ortonio added that they don’t currently have the numbers as there are still many areas under study.
“Some may have mental issues but we cannot determine his or her extent so we really do not have a number yet,” Ortonio added.
However, he committed that the HRMO is working on this matter urgently especially that this is the directive of the mayor.
“There should be somebody who has the expertise to diagnose our employees so we are also considering hiring a psychiatrist and psychologist,” Mayor Sara Duterte said.
The Mayor confirmed that she received reports on mentally ill employees under the city government.
“I received reports during a meeting that there are employees who went berserk. But we do not know yet whether it was mental illness or others who triggered him or her. Other reports also stated that there are employees who are not responsive and are usually far out,” Duterte said.
However, they are still looking for the opinion of the legal office for this matter.
“We are still discussing it on the legal office because we only follow the civil service rule on the hiring process. The question is can we add this as a requirement on hiring and promotions,” she said.
Duterte stated that a lot of areas have still to be considered before this can be put in place
“There are mental issues that may not affect your job as an employee so we can let you do your job. We also do not want to violate human rights and their right to work to employment,” she said.
