Capitol employees to get P25T incentive

Excluding job order workers

CEBU, Philippines — Capitol employees are set to receive their P25,000 Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) incentive next week.

Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre yesterday confirmed after the fourth supplemental budget worth P104.8 million was approved en masse at the Provincial Board (PB) last Monday.

The money will directly be sent to the respective ATM accounts of the 1,741 regular and casual employees. Elected officials will also get their share.

Job order employees, however, are not entitled to the benefit.

Instead of cash, the job-order employees who consist half of the Capitol’s work-force will be receiving a 50-kilogram sack of rice each.

Salubre said that the release of the incentive will probably happen next week.

Last November, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has set the cap of the CNA incentive to P25,000 only. The release date is also based on the DBM guidelines.

Last year, the CNA for the employees was P20,000.

Budget Officer Danilo Rodas said that the incentive is determined based on the savings of the departments at the Capitol. The CNA is the biggest bulk of the fourth supplemental budget for 2018 which amounts to P43 million.

Of the entire amount, P36 million will be used for the operations of the provincial-run hospitals and the Cebu South Bus Terminal, while the remaining amount is allocated for financial assistance to the local government operations.

While the supplemental budget got the nod of the PB, the proposed P4.6-billion budget of the provincial government for 2019 was passed only until the second reading.

The third and final reading will be held on Monday after PB Member Alex Binghay said after the passage of the ordinance on second reading that he has not read the specifications of the said budget.

He first raised a motion for reconsideration, but eventually withdrew it later on.

Recalling parliamentary procedures, Majority Floor Leader Jude Thaddeus Sybico said that no changes can be made to a proposed ordinance on third reading. Questions and amendments were supposed to be raised only on second reading.

Binghay did not raise his concerns during the second reading even if the presider had asked whether the august body had questions or concerns about the proposed ordinance authorizing the utilization of a P4.6 billion budget for 2019. (FREEMAN)