Archival renews 764 JO appointments

CEBU, Philippines — At least 764 Job Order (JO) personnel from seven Cebu City departments can now proceed with their specific assignments after the City Council, in a special session the other day, approved Mayor Nestor Archival’s manpower requests for the different offices.

The special session was originally scheduled for July 6 but was moved to July 9 to allow the council and the Secretariat to focus on preparations for the State of the City Address and the annual organizational session held on July 7.

The session was convened in response to Archival’s July 2 letter requesting deliberation on the manpower needs of departments that had not yet secured approval for JO personnel covering July to December 2026.

In his communication, the mayor emphasized the urgency of ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of services, particularly in social welfare and barangay operations.

Councilor Dave Tumulak, chairman of the Committee on Finance of the City Council, clarified that two items included in the agenda, the Cebu City Wildlife Conservation and Protection Center and the Department of Social Welfare Services’ Child Welfare Center, had already been approved in a prior session last month.

The remaining manpower requests were formally approved yesterday, covering 14 personnel for the Cebu City Bantay Dagat Commission with a budget of P1,586,806.32, five for the Cebu City Youth Development Office with P435,537.96, 51 for the South Road Properties Management Office with P5,748,560.16, and 68 for the DSWS Sta. Rita de Cascia Women and Children’s Center with P5,910,939.00.

Also approved were 70 JOs for the Department of Social Welfare Operation Second Chance with P6,783,583.50, 80 for the Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS) with P7,868,743.50, 66 for the DSWS Long Life Program with P5,417,680.50, 10 for the Cebu City Women and Family Affairs Commission with P1,297,791.00, 363 for the Barangay Affairs Office with P25,722,803.04, 29 for the Eco-Park Program with P3,560,309.70, and eight for the Department of General Services ERMM with P1,463,997.60.

Tumulak explained the legal basis for convening the session, citing Section 6 of City Ordinance No. 2795.

He stressed that this was why the council yielded to the mayor’s request for a special session since the manpower proposals involved the augmentation of funds.

The council expressed hope that, with the approval of these manpower requests, JO employees will finally receive their salaries without further delays, unlike in previously reported incidents where workers went unpaid for months due to delayed releases.

Tumulak, however, has yet to receive an update from the city’s finance office on the current status of salaries for those earlier cases.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) defines JO workers as individuals hired for “piece work or intermittent jobs of short duration not exceeding six months, paid on a daily or hourly basis.”

They are not considered government employees, have no employer-employee relationship with the agency, and are not entitled to benefits such as leave credits or 13th-month pay.

Their contracts are meant to address short-term manpower needs, with compensation drawn from. (CEBU NEWS)