BORONGAN CITY — Hundreds of casual and temporary employees in Borongan City lost their jobs after the city council failed to approve the 2026 annual budget.

In a memorandum sent to all department heads on Friday, acting Mayor Emmanuel Tiusonco announced that the services of all job order employees would be terminated by the end of the day.

Tiusonco explained that the city is currently operating under a reenacted budget, as the proposed 2026 budget is still under deliberation by the city council. The layoffs came after the council, in a 4-3 vote, denied Tiusonco’s request to hire job order personnel using funds from the reenacted budget.

Under Department of Budget and Management guidelines, local governments can hire casual or job order employees under a re-enacted budget — but only for existing positions funded in the previous year. No new positions can be created until the new budget is approved.

The guidelines also allow the wages of casual employees to be paid from the “personnel services” portion of the re-enacted budget. In Borongan’s case, the city council denied Tiusonco the authority to use these funds.

The proposed 2026 budget was originally submitted to the city council on 16 October 2025, by outgoing Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda, who stepped down to serve a 90-day suspension ordered by the Ombudsman. The council only began deliberations on 23 December 2025.

Agda, whose suspension ends on 25 February, was found guilty of violating Republic Act 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials, following a complaint filed in 2019.