Administrator: MICS office not abandoned

CEBU, Philippines —  Cebu City Administrator Floro Casas, Jr. clarified yesterday that there was a skeletal force left at the Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) when its workers went on a team-building activity starting yesterday.

Floro was forced to issue the clarification following reports that the office was left unattended because of the activity.

“Naa gyud nabilin. Dili man sab frontline service ang MICS; support service ra man sab sila… and that person is enough to manage everything, since computer ra man (Someone manned the office. Besides, MICS is not a frontline office; it provides support service… and that person left is enough to manage everything because it’s all computers),” Casas said.

The staff member reportedly worked in the morning and left before midday to join the rest of the office staff.

“At least four hours today ang nabilin nga skeletal force, and until ugma ila team building. Amo ni gituyo nga weekend para dili ma-hamper ang services (The skeletal force manned the office for at least four hours. The team building will be until tomorrow and we are holding it purposely on a weekend so that services won’t be hampered),” Casas said yesterday.

MICS is in charge of the internet service at City Hall and troubleshoots in case of failure in the system.

Casas said offices offering frontline services are not allowed to hold activities like a team-building activity on a weekday but those providing support service are allowed as long as a skeletal force is left behind to attend to concerns.

Despite Casas’ clarification, Mayor Edgardo Labella said he would still look into the matter.

“I will make an investigation if it is really true that there was no skeletal force left, especially it was really during office hours. I made an order that “no noon breaks” and that there should always be an employee even it’s between 12 to 1 pm,” Labella said.

He said he will call Casas, as well as the department head, to a meeting to clarify the matter.  JMO (FREEMAN)