SUBJECT : LOGBOOK ATTENDANCE IN LIEU OF BIOMETRICS FOR

CITY LAWYERS AND OTHER EMPLOYEES WHOSE

NATURE OF FUNCTION WARRANTS BIOMETRICS
EXEMPTION

Date : June 25, 2018

This has reference to the above-mentioned subject and the legal basis in support of the
same.

With regards to the recording of attendance of government officials and employees, the
provision is stated in Item C of the Civil Service Commission MC No. 21, S. 1991 entitled
“Policy on Government Working Hours for Government Officials and Employees”. To wit:

“C. Use of Bundy Clock and Other Record of Attendance

1. All officers and employees shall records their daily attendance on

the proper form or, whenever possible, have them registered on the bundy
clock. Any other means of recording attendance may be allowed provided
their respective names and signatures as well as the time of their actual
arrival to and departure from office are indicated, subject to verification.
This include those serving on the field, that is, outside the office proper, x x
x. The Record of Attendance which shall be kept in a conspicuous place,
shall be in the custody of a responsible officer who shall monitor the
arrival, departure of officials and employees.”

In addition to the above, CSC issued Resolution No. 991077 dated May 21, 1999 in response
to the request for bundy clock exemption of a certain Pangasinan Provincial Rural Health
Physician as it posed problems in the effective delivery of service. Citing the same provision
of the MC above, the said Resolution states:

“The foregoing provision readily denote that while it is incumbent

upon the head of the department or agency to require all subordinate
officers and employees to maintain a daily record of attendance, the
same need not be made only through a Bundy Clock. When
reasonableness and practicality so dictate, the office may adopt such
means other than the usual mode of punching the time card, to register
the attendance of an employee as long as they are kept in the proper
form.

Hence, the request for exemption from the use of the bundy clock
as a mode of registering attendance in the aforesaid Rural Health Unit
is in consonance with the aforequoted provision and warranted by the
civil service rules. Furthermore, this is in line with the policy of the
Commission to humanize the Bureaucracy.”

Lastly, none other than the DILG itself recognizes that certain employees may be exempted
from using the Biometrics to record attendance. In its Circular No. 2017-8, Item 6, it states
that “Request for Exemptions may be extended to some personnel supported with
justifiable/tenable reasons that necessitate the grant of exemption due to the nature of
their functions, roles and responsibilities”.
Since the functions of city lawyers include being deployed outside of office very often
(sometimes even outside NCR) to attend hearings, meetings, ocular inspections, etc., to
represent the City Government of _______; and are required to work even after office
hours and rest days, it would be impractical and counter-productive for them to register
their attendance through the biometrics. It is in this regard that recording their attendance
in a logbook following a standard form, to be kept by a responsible staff is the most
effective and efficient method of logging their attendance.

Thank you and we hope that we are able to shed light on this matter.