MANILA, Philippines - Some 8,000 employees of the Makati City Hall have now started receiving their Christmas bonuses after acting city mayor Romulo “Kid” Peña recently ordered the release of the yearend bonuses amounting to P343.7 million.
Peña said the early release of bonuses is aimed to give city employees ample time to do their shopping for the holidays early to avoid the Christmas rush.
“It would be more convenient and also economical for the employees as they can still avail themselves of great discounts and bargain sales at this time,” he said.
The acting mayor also said city government employees can look forward to just compensation for their services as well as more incentives, including non-monetary benefits such as universal health insurance package.
“Under my administration, our city employees can expect fair treatment. Those who are deserving will be granted promotion and security of tenure as soon as possible,” Peña said.
Year-end bonuses received by Makati employees each year include the 13th month pay, fringe benefit which is almost equivalent to a month’s salary, cash gift of P5,000 and P6,000 as incentive allowance.
Based on the records of the Human Resource Development Office (HRDO) of Makati, the lowest ranking casual employees with Salary Grade 1 will receive P27,942.84 each, while the lowest ranking regular employees will receive P24,300 each. Regular employees had earlier received half of their 13th month pay last May, in time for the enrolment period.
The total year-end bonuses of city employees of Makati this year amounts to P343,725,836.17 broken down as follows: 13th month, P134.5 million; 14th/fringe benefit, P127.7 million; cash gift, P39.7 million; and incentive, P41.6 million.
Last October, the city employees received their Performance Enhancement Incentive (PEI) bonus, equivalent to a month’s salary, after the City Council finally gave in to Peña’s appeals and approved the corresponding appropriation.
Meanwhile, Peña reiterated his appeal to the City Council to approve his pending proposal to increase the allowances of senior citizens given every June and December.
“The city government has enough resources to implement the increase. It would be a fitting Christmas present to our elderly residents if my proposal were approved before the year ends,” he said.