Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak clarified that the delayed salaries of hundreds of job order (JO) employees at City Hall are due to procedural bottlenecks and should not be blamed on a single official or office.
This comes amid ongoing finger-pointing among city officials. Tumulak, chairman of the council's Committee on Budget and Finance, said the executive and legislative branches should focus on solving the problem instead of engaging in blame games.
Nearly 1,000 JOs are waiting for their pay for services rendered months ago.
"For both of them, the vice mayor and the mayor, there's no time for pointing fingers. This is our mandate to serve the City of Cebu," Tumulak said.
The controversy stemmed from delayed salaries of about 956 JO and project-based workers, some of whom reportedly have not been paid from January to March 2026. Others have pending salaries since October 2025.
The issue escalated after Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña blamed City Administrator Albert Tan for the delays, while Mayor Nestor Archival argued that document requirements and the City Council's approval process contributed to the backlog.
However, Tumulak said delayed salaries for JOs are not new at City Hall and have also occurred under past administrations.
"This is not the first time that the salaries of our job orders have been delayed, even before," he said.
Tumulak added that the city government is merely following the accounting, auditing, and budgetary procedures required under existing regulations. He explained that many delays could have been minimized if payroll makers and personnel tasked with processing were properly guided on the requirements from the start.
Tumulak also suggested that the current administration is still adjusting to new personnel assigned to payroll-related tasks. He noted that many payroll makers are new to their positions, while the mayor has the prerogative to choose personnel to handle manpower matters.
"I understand that this is the first year of our mayor. He also has the right to choose who among the payroll makers. They are new," he said.
Tumulak presented a timeline of manpower requests submitted by various departments to refute claims that the City Council's review process caused the delays. Records from the Committee on Budget and Finance show that several manpower requests reached the council weeks or months after the start of the appointment period.
