MICS head belies being “ghost” employee at City Hall

CEBU, Philippines — Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) head Dante Arcilla has belied allegations circulating online that he has been receiving salary from the Cebu City government without reporting to work.

A social media post showing a supposed empty daily time record (DTR) of Arcilla has made rounds online. The Facebook page Cebu Updates labeled the picture as “DTR Scam” and urged the Civil Service Commission as well as the Office of the Ombudsman to look into the alleged anomalous practice.

“Atong gihangyo ang Civil Service Commission ug Office of the Ombudsman nga tan-awon ni ang DTR scam sa Cebu City Hall kay dili ni mahimo ni Dax Arcilla kon walay kakunsabo sa HRDO ug sa Mayor's Office,” the post reads.

In an interview with reporters yesterday (Thursday), Arcilla clarified that the DTR in the photo was a record of last year. It was allegedly empty because it was yet to be filled up.

“Kabalo naka, politics. That is part of the process. Sa pagsugod sa imong DTR, it is always empty. Ang-ang naman og wa pa magsugod ang buwan naa nay sud,” said Arcilla.

He threatened to take a legal action against the person responsible for the “malicious” post because the pictures of his children were also shown. As of 5:45 pm yesterday, the pictures of Arcilla’s children were already removed but the empty DTR remains.

“Naa man didto sa akong profile picture, the kids are there,” Arcilla said.

Clarifying his work schedules, Arcilla explained that he works 24 hours a day. He said reports personally to the mayor and the city administrator whom he added can attest to his attendance at work.

According to him, his job description includes setting up the right information infrastructure for the city. Aside from this, Arcilla said his job is to set up the right direction in terms of application and systems that the city will be using.

Arcilla added that it is also his job to set up the proper system that data within the city cannot be stolen and to set up the right policies and the data.

“That is my job, dunay 8 to 5 ana? That is 24 hours. Ang hackers maghuwat na og alas singko?...adto na sila sa kadlawon,” said Arcilla.

In fact, he claimed the city government saved more than P300M because of MICS.

Arcilla said there were also circumstances that the mayor would call him early in the morning and go home already late at night. – FPL  (CEBU NEWS)