Mayor Nestor Archival stated Cebu City has sufficient funds for delayed salaries, but procedural amendments requiring City Council review and approval have slowed down the payroll process.
Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña blamed City Administrator Albert Tan for the months-long backlog, stating he is primarily responsible for the delayed compensation of city employees.
An estimated 956 job order and project-based workers have gone unpaid for services rendered as early as October 2025 and from January to March 2026.
[] Mayor Nestor Archival says procedural requirements continue to slow payroll processing.
[] Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña is seeking complaints from workers affected by months-long salary delays.
[] Nearly 1,000 JO and project-based personnel remain affected by unpaid compensation dating back to 2025.
THE CEBU CITY Government has sufficient funds to pay hundreds of job order (JO) and project-based workers whose salaries have been delayed, but procedural requirements that now require City Council approval have slowed the release of compensation, Mayor Nestor Archival said on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
Archival issued the statement after Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña, during the regular City Council session on Tuesday, June 16, blamed City Administrator Albert Tan for the delayed salaries of an estimated 956 JO and project-based personnel who reportedly have not received compensation for services rendered as early as October 2025 and from January to March 2026.
Osmeña said responsibility for the delays rests with the city administrator.
“I put the blame really on the city administrator because that’s his primary responsibility,” Osmeña said.
Approval process questioned
Osmeña expressed frustration over the situation, saying the prolonged delay in salary releases had left some workers struggling to support their families.
He said he was embarrassed that city employees were being forced to wait months for their compensation despite continuing to report for work.
In response, Archival said the executive department had already made funds available and that delays were occurring because of procedural requirements, including the need for JO appointments and related documents to undergo review and approval.
“The money is there,” Archival said in an interview Wednesday.
He said documents related to JO personnel are submitted to the City Council, where they undergo committee review before being elevated for approval and forwarded for payroll processing.
Documents pass several stages
According to the mayor, delays can occur when committee reports are not acted upon at once or when documents move through several stages of review.
Archival also said accomplishment reports and other documentary requirements remain critical to salary processing.
He said JO workers must submit accomplishment reports before payrolls can be processed and that delays in completing these requirements contribute to the backlog.
“Once we have that, kinahanglan pa na pirmahan, dayon moagi pa sa committee report. Human ana, himuon pa og resolution ug ipadala na ngadto sa payroll processing,” he said.
(Once we have that, it still needs to be signed, then it has to go through a committee report. After that, a resolution has to be prepared and sent for payroll processing.)
Mayor cites shared responsibility
Archival maintained that the delayed salaries cannot be attributed solely to the executive department, noting that the processing of JO appointments and payroll documents passes through several offices before payments can be released.
He said assigning blame to a single office would be unfair given the number of offices involved in the process.
The mayor said the approval process was more straightforward in previous years, with the mayor able to approve manpower requests once funding had been provided in the budget.
However, he said amendments now require additional City Council action before appointments can proceed.
Despite the controversy, Archival said he has no objection to Osmeña’s invitation for affected workers to seek assistance from the Office of the Vice Mayor.
“I don’t have a problem with that,” he said.
Vice mayor invites workers
Earlier, Osmeña sponsored a resolution encouraging affected JO and project-based workers from both the executive and legislative departments to visit his office and submit documents related to their unpaid salaries.
The vice mayor said he would personally look into the complaints and identify those responsible for the delays.
“That’s why I want to personally look into this. If they don’t get their salaries, come to me, I’ll find a way,” Osmeña said.
He also disclosed that around 15 JO workers assigned to his office have continued reporting for work despite not receiving their salaries.
According to Osmeña, the issue is personal because employees under his supervision have also been affected by the delays.
“And I don’t like to see my people go hungry,” he said.
The dispute comes amid continuing concerns over the delayed compensation of 956 JO workers, an issue previously raised before the City Council.
Councilor Harold Kendrick Go disclosed that hundreds of workers had yet to receive salaries, prompting calls for the immediate release of unpaid compensation.
For his part, Archival maintained that City Hall has sufficient funds to cover the salaries and that payments can be released once all documentary and procedural requirements have been completed. / CAV