By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

SENATORS yesterday found another unclassified employee recently transferred from the governor’s office, this time to the Department of Land Management, but its director Terry Mortera defended the staff move, saying the additional employee was much needed by his department.
At the budget session, it was revealed that the employee in question, who works as a private secretary at the director’s office, is making $31,000 a year.
“We have been discovering more and more transfers from the governor’s office and, as we go along, we expect to find more,” said Sen. Jesse A. Lujan, R-Tamuning.
The ongoing budget deliberations have revealed a number of staff realignments, with employees transferred to the Guam Police Department, the Department of Public Health and Social Services, and the Civil Service Commission.
Senators said the shifting of employees was not consistent with the governor’s promise to reduce the size of GovGuam.
Mortera, however, said the private secretary sent to his office last month has been helpful in easing the workload of administrative assistants, allowing them to focus on duties that they are mandated to do.
Mortera said the Department of Land Management is currently understaffed, forcing its administrative assistants to do some clerical works.
The land department’s staffing pattern shows 104 positions. “Of that number, we only have 46 filled positions, and 58 remain unfilled,” Mortera said.
“The beauty of having a private secretary is that there’s somebody who can help us with all the paper works and allow other staffers to focus on their essential jobs,” Mortera told Variety.
“But even with a private secretary, we are still way understaffed, compared to all the papers that we need to work on,” he added.
Sen. Ben Pangelinan, D-Barrigada, who first blew the whistle on the realignment of employees from the governor’s office, said shifting employees from the executive branch to other agencies circumvents the regular process of hiring personnel based on the merit system.
“If these departments and agencies need these employees, the positions should be filled the normal way, like every other position in the government of Guam. It should be done the right way,” Pangelinan said.
The employee realignment, he said, was “a way to circumvent the process” in order to accommodate political hires.
Pangelinan said it doesn’t require legislation to correct the apparent transfer irregularities. “It only requires a leader to remain true to what he promised during the campaign—that he would do things the right way,” he said.
Since Gov. Felix P. Camacho assumed power, he added, “the administration has been doing things the way they want.”
“They continue to use government resources to accommodate political favors,” Pangelinan added.