JO pay row: Archival blames council red tape for delayed salaries

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The wait for the salaries of hundreds of Cebu City Hall job order (JO) workers may drag on as City Hall continues to trade blame over who is responsible for the payroll delays.

Mayor Nestor Archival on Wednesday pushed back against Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s accusations, insisting that the delayed salaries were not caused by a lack of funds or by the executive branch’s refusal to release payments.

Instead, Archival argued that council procedures had become a major bottleneck, saying job order appointments and related payroll documents must first undergo City Council approval before workers could be compensated.

Responding to Osmeña’s remarks during Tuesday’s City Council session, the mayor maintained that the approval process, not the executive department, was at the core of the problem.

“You [JOs] go there, but the problem here is not me. I’m not the one preparing the payroll. The money is there,” Archival said in an interview.

READ: Tomas O. blames city administrator as unpaid JOs ‘go hungry’

The mayor questioned a council-approved budget provision that would require certain job order-related matters to return to the City Council for approval, which was a process, he said, that could take weeks or even months.

“Every time there is a job order, which is my job, mubalik pa na sa Council. Inig balik sa council, lisod-lisoron pa na, isulod pa sa committee report. If the committee report is not attended to for one month, it will take months,” he said.

(Every time there is a job order, which falls under my responsibility, it has to go back to the Council. Once it returns to the Council, it becomes difficult because it still has to go through a committee report. If the committee report is not acted upon for a month, the process can take months.)

Archival said the executive branch only needs to verify whether workers had submitted the required accomplishment reports before forwarding the documents for council action.

READ: Archival defends City Hall over delayed JO pay: ‘Wala ta nagkulang’

“Once I request them, number one, if the workers have submitted their JO reports. Second, once we have that, ato pa na pa-aprubahan sa council. The moment I submit, iadto pa sa committee report, after ana himoan pa og resolution padung sa payroll. That’s it. Simple as that,” he said.

(Once I request them, first, we check whether the workers have submitted their job order reports. Second, once we have those, we still need council approval. The moment I submit the documents, they still go to a committee report, and after that, another resolution has to be passed before payroll processing. That’s it. It’s that simple.)

‘Unfair’ blame

Archival also accused some council members of making the process unnecessarily difficult while blaming the executive department for the resulting delays.

“The problem is they are the ones who approved that,” he said.

The mayor suggested that some actions taken by the council could border on interference with executive functions.

“Usurpation. Nakasabot man na sila ba, ila lang gyud lisod-lisoron unya ako basulan,” he said.

(That is usurpation. They understand that, but they still make things difficult and then blame me.)

READ: DOLE orders employers to release workers’ final pay, COE on timeHe added that he found it unfair for the administration to shoulder criticism for problems that, according to him, arose from procedures approved by the legislative branch.

“The thing here, putting the blame on somebody and ang naghimo sila, I think it’s unfair,” Archival said.

(The thing here is that they are putting the blame on somebody even though they were the ones who created it. I think it’s unfair.)

Despite his criticism, Archival said he had no objection to the council-approved resolution directing unpaid JO workers to coordinate with the Office of the Vice Mayor.

“There is a call nga adto ni Vice. I don’t have problems with that,” he said.

(There is a call for them to go to the Vice Mayor’s Office. I don’t have any problem with that.)

Osmeña points to City Administrator

Earlier this week, Osmeña publicly blamed City Administrator Albert Tan for prolonged salary delays affecting hundreds of job order and project-based personnel.

As the chief of day-to-day operations under the city’s executive department, the City Administrator is legally tasked with supervising personnel and processing internal paperwork.

Because Tan holds this key executive gatekeeper role, Osmeña argued that the administrative bottlenecks starving nearly a thousand workers would fall squarely under his (Tan’s) responsibility.

During Tuesday’s regular session, the vice mayor sponsored a resolution urging unpaid workers from both the executive and legislative departments to report directly to his office and submit documents related to their claims.

The council subsequently approved the resolution.

Osmeña said he felt embarrassed that some city workers had reportedly gone months without pay despite continuing to report for work.

“I’m so embarrassed as an official of the city government when we have employees who cannot even put food on their plate because we cannot process our salaries on time,” he told the council.

“This is the worst thing that we can do to our own people, and it will affect the performance of our city government,” he added.

At one point, Osmeña directly identified Tan as the official primarily responsible for the delays.

“I put the blame really on the city administrator because that is primarily his responsibility,” he said.

The vice mayor also disclosed that some JO workers assigned to his office had yet to receive compensation despite working extended hours, including weekends.

“I give them my personal salary because I don’t have the courage to tell them to keep on working under those conditions,” he said.

Council warned against ‘usurpation’

Ironically, concerns about possible encroachment on executive powers also surfaced during Tuesday’s council discussion.

Councilor Harry Eran supported efforts to help affected workers but cautioned against actions that could appear to interfere with executive functions.

“Ngano man diayng ma-delay (Why is it getting delayed)?,” he asked.

“Para mura ba og wa sa usurpation ba (So that it would not appear as usurpation),” he added.

Eran urged the Office of the Vice Mayor to coordinate with the executive department while looking into the causes of the delays.

“We appreciate the intention of the Office of the Vice Mayor to really help speed up the processing,” he said.

More than 900 workers affected

The salary controversy first gained public attention after Councilor Harold Kendrick Go disclosed that at least 956 job order personnel remained unpaid for services rendered from January to March 2026, while some claims reportedly dated back to October 2025.

Go previously attributed part of the backlog to the late submission of appointments to the City Council.

“January hangtod March walay sweldo ang 956 ka job order personnel. Karon pa gi-submit ilang appointment sa konseho,” he said.

(From January to March, the 956 job order personnel did not receive any salary. Their appointments were only submitted to the council just now.)

The issue has drawn heightened scrutiny because of Cebu City Hall’s strict “no appointment, no work” policy, which bars personnel from legally rendering service or receiving compensation without approved appointments.

Funds available, says Archival

Even before the latest exchange with Osmeña, Archival had rejected claims that City Hall lacked money to pay affected workers.

In an earlier press conference, he maintained that funds remained available and pointed instead to documentary deficiencies and delayed accomplishment reports.

“Sa tinuod lang ako gyud gitan-aw unsay problema kay daghan kaayo factors,” he said.

(Honestly, I personally looked into the problem because many factors contributed to it.)

He also noted that many workers submitted required reports only near payroll deadlines, slowing processing.

“Imagine, day 1 to day 15 dapat naghimo na gyud unta na silag report. Ang kadaghanan man gud dili maghimo og report. Anha na maghimo sa petsa 15 o 30,” Archival said.

(Imagine, from day 1 to day 15, they should already be preparing their reports. But many do not prepare them and only do so on the 15th or 30th.)

Still, Archival insisted that the city government had sufficient funds to settle the unpaid salaries once the documentary and approval requirements were completed.

“Wala ta nagkulang. Naa na ang budget. The moment complete ang papel, mahatag man gyud na,” he said.

(We did not fall short. The budget is already there. The moment the papers are complete, we can release the payment.)

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