Since January: JO workers still unpaid

CEBU, Philippines — Two Cebu City councilors yesterday expressed concern over the delay of the salaries and incentives of Job Order (JO) workers, despite the city having a fixed approved budget appropriation for all of its employees.

City Councilors Noel Wenceslao, who heads the City Council committee on budget and finance, and Nestor Archival, Sr. both confirmed that it has been three months but the JO workers have not yet received their salary for 2024.

Wenceslao, in an interview with reporters, said that as far as the budget is concerned, there is already an appropriation intended for salaries for the regular, casual, and JO employees of the city government.

He said P25 billion of the 2024 annual budget was earmarked for salaries, while the Charter Day bonus is also included in the Supplemental Budget (SB) 1 that the City Council approved during a special session last March 8.

But while the casual and regular employees already got their P15,000 Charter Day bonus, the JO employees would not receive their P5,000 until their contracts get renewed.

Wenceslao said the Executive Department still need to undergo layers of processes to be able to distribute the salaries and incentives of the JO employees.

“Like kanang manpower request kay wala pa man ila pang gi deliberate pag ayo. I think, nahuman naman siguro ang amo lang sa SB, for signature na kay muagi pa man sa HRDO (Human Resource Department Office),” he said.

He also clarified that the approved annual budget and SB 1 already included the entitled payments for all Cebu City Government employees, or the 4,784 casual and regular employees and the 3,357 JO workers.

He assured though that the JO workers would receive their salaries for the past months that they have worked once their appointment are renewed.

He, however, said that those who would not be renewed would no longer receive their salaries even if have worked for the past months.

“Di man gud sad mahatag sa ila kung wala silay appointment,” he said.

The JO employees undergo renewal of appointments every three or six months.

Wenceslao said this has taken longer this year because of an ongoing rightsizing program, which is aimed downsize the number of employees to just 3,000 by 2025.

“Ang makadawat kato rang appointed ones, but the budget appropriation is there already, the budgetary requirement is naa na. But di man sila makadawat kung wala silay appointment,” he said.

Archival, on the other hand, said Archival said that there are probably realignments being done to the supposed budget intended for the JO employees.

He questioned why JO employees only get to receive their salaries once their appointments are renewed.

“Nya katong gamay nila na bonus, P5,000, wala pa mahatag…. It is already budgeted, and the people were already there,” he said.

In a separate interview, a JO employee, who declined to be named, confirmed that it has been three months since she received her entitled salary.

She, however, said that they were used to this every beginning of the year, when it usually takes three to four months before their contracts get renewed.

“Nakasabot man ko but on the other side kay dili (nakasabot) kay siyempre nanginhanglan sad gyud mi og kwarta, plite , kaon pa ana. Ang uban sa amoa kay mangutang nalang gyud kay wala may allowance, naa pay pamilya ang uban,” she said.

She further said that in the past months, their salaries often get delayed, but they always received them.

She said that their department has 21 JO workers, but only eight got their contracts renewed.

“Ang uban wala na gyud sila nag-duty since January…. Actually, depende ra man sa department head kung mopadayon mo. Ang uban man gud I think wala na sila nagpadayon kay syiempre ikaw daw wala nay appointment, magtrabaho sila wala nay assurance,” she said. — (FREEMAN)