Cebu City mayor-elect Nestor Archival Sr. | CDN Photo/ Pia Piquero
CEBU CITY, Philippines — All employees of Cebu City Hall are staying in place, at least for the next three months.
Mayor-elect Nestor Archival Sr. announced that his administration will maintain the status quo in City Hall staffing as part of a transition period to review the city’s financial standing and assess its human resources.
He said no immediate changes will be made to the current workforce, amid growing uncertainty among job order (JO) employees and contractual staff about their future under the incoming leadership.
“I learned that we have 10,000 plus employees in the Cebu City Hall. What we are going to do is we will have a meeting, but we plan to have the status quo at the moment. We will check naa ba tay kwarta,” Archival said in a recent news media forum.
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“I understand daghan ta complaints, naay mga JOs wala pa ma-eskweldohi. That’s the first thing. We are going to check unsa man gyud job description sa mga tawo nga naa sa City Hall. From the moment, we will have a status quo,” he added.
Archival clarified that the status quo order will remain in place for up to three months while his team conducts a comprehensive review of City Hall’s personnel and the city’s financial resources.
“We will not touch anything right away,” Archival said in Cebuano. “We need to determine what functions are essential, whether we have the budget to support the current workforce, and whether every employee is serving a necessary purpose.”
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The incoming mayor’s announcement follows mounting concerns from employees, especially those under JO and casual contracts, who typically face uncertainties during changes in administration.
According to Archival, he was informed that City Hall currently has over 10,000 personnel. But outgoing Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia offered a more conservative figure, estimating around 7,000 employees, broken down into 2,000 regular workers, 3,000 casuals, and another 2,000 under job order contracts.
Regardless of the actual count, the workforce represents a significant portion of the city’s operational machinery and budgetary obligations.
During his press conference on May 19, Garcia appealed to Archival to retain the current workforce, particularly those with experience and institutional knowledge.
“We have many employees here who you can say are good, not only because they are skilled and they know what to do, but, more importantly, they have experience,” Garcia said.
He warned against a massive overhaul, cautioning that a new set of workers would need training, orientation, and time to adjust, which could potentially delay government services.
“They have the know-how, they have the knowledge, and they have been trained. So, hopefully, they can continue so that the operations of our City of Cebu will not be disrupted,” he said.
Garcia said he was hopeful that the Archival administration would prioritize performance over politics, especially since most personnel had remained neutral during the election season.
Anticipating the possibility that not all contracts will be renewed, Garcia said he had ordered the Department of Manpower Placement and Development (DMDP) to organize a job fair specifically for JO and casual employees.
“I told them that I want this done thoroughly and properly, and all employees should be informed so that they have something to lean on, to bank on, in case they are not renewed,” he said.
Garcia added that the DMDP has been instructed to match workers’ skills, education, and experience with available jobs in the private sector, giving them viable fallback options should their employment with the city end. /clorenciana