CEBU CITY, Philippines ? Starting February 1, the Cebu Provincial Capitol will be open to the public for two more hours daily, with no noon breaks.

Instead of the old office hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Capitol will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

By tweaking the schedules of employees working for the Cebu provincial government, the Capitol has extended its service hours without extending the employees? work hours.

This is achieved by splitting each Capitol department into two shifts. One shift works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break at noon.

Another shift works from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. They will take their lunch break at 1 p.m.

The new work hours was a result of a meeting among Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Capitol department heads, and consultants on January 5.

?This is in line with Capitol's vision on the delivery of efficient service,? said Rory Jon Sepulveda, Capitol consultant on information, revenue generation and compliance.

?The governor threw a challenge to the department heads and consultants. She asked them how more we can improve the delivery of service at the Capitol,? Sepulveda said.

The department heads and consultants came up with the idea of splitting the workforce into two overlapping shifts.

Garcia agreed with the system. She was scheduled to issue a memorandum to the different Capitol offices regarding the new system soon.

Sepulveda said that through the new system, Cebu province has one again proven its leadership in making innovations to improve the delivery of basic services.