New corruption claims rock Cebu City Hall

MICS department head denies salary irregularities

MICS head Dax Arcilla on Thursday, June 6, denied allegations that he is collecting his salary despite being not physically present at City Hall. | CDN Photo/ Pia Piquero

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu City Hall finds itself embroiled in yet another corruption allegation after a department head allegedly receives his full salary despite failing to log hours in his biometric Daily Time Record (DTR).

In a post by Cebu Updates on Thursday, June 6, which had 48 shares as of 2:36 p.m. and garnered numerous comments, it was alleged that Dax Arcilla, the head of the Cebu City Management Information and Computer Services (MICS), received salaries without deductions despite having no records in his biometric DTR.

The post also called on the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the alleged “DTR scam” at Cebu City Hall. It further alleged that Arcilla has accomplices within the mayor’s office.

In an interview with Arcilla on June 6, he debunked the claims, stating that Cebu Updates had recycled an old post to generate attention. He even mentioned that the original author of the post had already apologized to him about the matter.

Arcilla addressed the context of the allegations and denied any wrongdoing, asserting that he has never missed work and is consistently present. He also named someone who can attest to his attendance.

“I am never off-work, I am at work 24 hours a day. I report to the mayor, I work with the City Administrator, they can attest me [my attendance],” he said.

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According to Arcilla, it would be impossible for him to be off work due to the critical nature and heavy workload of his responsibilities at the Cebu City government.

He outlined his duties as follows: setting up the right infrastructure for the city’s information systems, establishing the correct direction and platforms for the city’s use, ensuring proper security measures to protect data from theft, and developing policies on data management.

“[Those are] my job,” he noted.

Arcilla stated that his duties extend far beyond the standard 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. government work hours. Given the critical nature of his role in safeguarding public data and information, he asserted that his work necessitates a commitment of 24 hours a day.

He questioned why people would question his presence at work when his office, the MICS, has contributed to saving the Cebu City government at least 300 million pesos through his diligent effort.

“Mangita ka nako’g 8 to 5? I just saved you 300 million, nevertheless, I stayed 8 am, 7 am, 9 am, usahay ipatawag pa ko ni mayor 7 in the morning. I do what’s necessary,” he said.