CEBU CITY — Newly-elected Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama Tuesday warned inept, corrupt, and lazy City Hall employees that their working days are numbered. Rama has formed a team precisely to evaluate the performance of over 5,000 City Hall employees.

Rama, who was a guest in the weekly 888 News Forum at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Cebu City, said he has talked with City Hall employees to ensure that their vision and hopes are similar to his.

He said he has laid out guidelines and checklists that will be used to determine which employee to keep and which to fire. He said those who openly campaigned against him during the May elections will are certain to be “kicked out of City Hall.”

The new city mayor stressed that employees who are “corrupt, lazy, and are rumor-mongers” will also be shown the door even as he assured those who do not fit the description of the “undesirables” in City Hall that they will remain in their jobs.

“I don’t have much time to know each of the employees so I formed a team that will assess them. There is nothing to worry though if you are doing your job because you will surely stay,” said Rama.

He reacted to reports that members of the Mayor’s Management Team (MMT) are demoralized after learning that some of them may be demoted following a job assessment. Former Mayor Tomas Osmeña, in 2005, began hiring cum laude and magna cum laude graduates from different fields to fill up middle management posts in City Hall under the MMT program.

Rama allayed such fears of the close to 80 employees in the MMT, and gave assurances that they will be retained and will not be demoted. He said that some might even be given higher positions.