From P35,000: CH employees to get only P20,000 bonus

CEBU, Philippines — After weeks of waiting for confirmation if they will be getting the initially announced P35,000 Christmas bonus, Cebu City Hall employees can finally stop anticipating, albeit now knowing they'll be getting less than what was initially mentioned.

In an interview, Cebu City Councilor Noel Wenceslao, the chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance, confirmed that after the final deliberation yesterday, the original proposal of P35,000 for regular and casual employees was reduced to P20,000 and the P10,000 proposed bonus for job order employees was reduced to P5,000.

According to Wenceslao, the decision was the consensus of the majority of the city council. Among the factors attributed to the decrease, is the adoption of the pronouncement of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that grants the P20,000 bonus for the regular and casual government employees.

"Number 2, para at least ba moingon sila na consistent atong pagpanghatag. It is not more, but it is not less also. At least more or less we are at par with the national," said Wenceslao, adding that this shows a status quo to last year's amount which was also at P20,000.

Now that it has already been approved by the Cebu City Council, releasing will be at the hands of the executive department.

"Hopefully, this will be given on or before the Christmas Day, December 25," said Wenceslao.

In the recently concluded series of budget hearings, Wenceslao noted that the giving of P20,000 bonus to the employees was not included from the budget proposals. This indicated an unclear line if the said bonuses will be done annually.

It was last October 23, 2023, that Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama announced that the casual and regular employees of Cebu City Hall employees will be receiving a P35,000 bonus.

Following the announcement, Vice Mayor Raymond Garcia then authored an ordinance to establish the granting of bonuses to JO employees. —/ATO (FREEMAN)