THE head of Cebu City’s Management Information and Computer Services (Mics), Dante “Dax” Arcilla, plans to seek help from law enforcement to address what he describes as a cybercrime offense against him and his family.
Arcilla denied on Thursday, June 6, 2024, the Facebook page Cebu Updates’ allegation that he is receiving salary despite allegedly having no entries in his Biometric Daily Time Record (BDTR).
“They do not have to include the children, my children,” Arcilla told SunStar Cebu on Thursday, noting that the issue has already affected his family.
Cebu Updates, in a post on Thursday morning, urged the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to look into the alleged BDTR scam at Cebu City Hall. It said Arcilla could not have committed the alleged scam without accomplices at the Human Resources Development Office and the mayor’s office.
“Dapat gyud ni imbestigahan kay si Dax Arcilla pa ang nasakpan karon, pero basin daghan ang naghimo ani nga scam sa Cebu City Hall. Kumpleto sweldo bisan walay trabaho, alkanse ang gobyerno,” reads a portion of the Cebu Updates post.
(This needs to be investigated because even though Dax Arcilla is the only one caught right now, many others might be involved in this scam at Cebu City Hall. If someone is receiving a full salary without working, the government loses out.)
The post, supported by a photo of what it claims to be an empty May 2023 BDTR of Arcilla, garnered 257 reactions, 134 comments and 49 shares as of 4:29 p.m. on Thursday.
Arcilla said the kind of work he has, which requires him to work beyond the normal 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. working hours, has exempted him from logging his time in and out of City Hall.
“I am never off work. I am working 24 hours a day,” Arcilla said.
He said there could be a possibility that the data for the BDTR on the Cebu Updates post had not yet been encoded or recorded.
He added that he regularly reports to the mayor’s office and works with the city administrator, asserting that these offices could verify his attendance at work.
Arcilla said his work involves establishing the appropriate information infrastructure, systems and applications for the City. He also focuses on implementing security measures for the City’s important data and establishing relevant policies.
“Those who are going to steal our data, are they going to wait for eight o’clock in the morning for the office to open? They are not; so I am always not off work,” Arcilla said.
Two of Cebu Updates program hosts are facing charges for alleged illegal access and computer-related identity theft under the Cybercrime Prevention law.
The city administration under suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama aims to regain access and administration of the page, which it maintains as a former public information office Facebook page of Cebu City Hall. / AML
