CH job order employees to get Christmas bonus

CEBU, Philippines —  Job Order (JO) employees under the Cebu City government may look forward to a merry Christmas, after Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama gave instructions to finalize the bonuses for them.

Rama, however, told JO employees and the rest to be thankful to the president for issuing an executive order concerning JO bonuses.

The city government earlier announced it has set aside an unspecified amount for the Christmas bonuses of close to 2,000 JO employees.

“The president already has made (an order) and we should clap the president for making an executive order. I was told before, usually, the executive order will be issued usually on Dec.27.  But this time, we should thank BBM for having issued it even earlier,” Rama said yesterday.

The mayor has instructed City Administrator Susan Ardosa to sit down with his work force to finalize this matter.

“Susan, sit down with the mayor’s workforce and discuss how we can bring into what ought to be, especially for our job orders…Please areglaha,” said Rama.

Earlier, Rama sent a letter to Malacanan to issue an executive order regarding the JO’s bonuses, since they are not part of the regular employees in the city.

Rama, as the president of the League of Cities in the Philippines, has suggested to have a  uniform amount of cash gifts for the JOs in all LGUs.

The president, however, is leaving it to the LGUs’ financial capacity subject to the limitation in the LGU budget under the Local Government Code of 1991.

Assistance to individuals and groups whose services are engaged through job orders (JO), contracts of service (COS), or other similarly situated working arrangements defined under a Commission on Audit’s circular order had also been included in the executive order.

Rama earlier expressed wanting to give JOs P10,000 bonus each, while the regular employees will receive P20,000 each. — GAN (FREEMAN)