City Hall employees hit cut on P20k bonus

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The city government yesterday started distributing the supposed Christmas bonus of P20,000 to each of the regular and casual plantilla employees, who in turn complained that the amount was slashed by P2,000 as share for incentives also to the job order workers.

City Administrator William Ablong said the employees' bonus, dubbed the productivity enhancement incentive (PEI), was taken from the city government's savings, from which P21-million has been allocated for the purpose.

However, instead of receiving the intended amount, many workers received only P18,000 after they signed a certification allowing P2,000 to be taken from their PEI for job order employees, said Ablong.

The city government had earlier appealed to its employees to voluntarily give P2,000 each from their PEIs so that job order employees, who are not qualified to receive the bonus, will also have their share.

Ablong clarified that an employee will not be forced to shell out the P2,000 against his or her own will but he said that it has been a practice in previous years that regular and casual plantilla workers share their blessings with the job order workers this Christmas.

The city government currently has at least 1,004 job order employees who will receive their "bonus" depending on how much money can be collected from the regular and casual employees, said Ablong. — (FREEMAN)