CEBU, Philippines — Job order (JO) workers of the Cebu City government are closer to the possibility that they will be receiving gratuity pay this Christmas after the City Council unanimously approved the report from the Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Styling concerning this matter.
Under the proposed ordinance which seeks to establish and institute the grant of gratuity pay to JOs in Cebu City, those who have rendered a total or an aggregate of at least six months of satisfactory performance of service as stipulated in their respective contracts will be entitled to a gratuity pay every six months not exceeding P6,000 each.
Those who have rendered less than six months of satisfactory performance of services may also be granted the gratuity pay on a pro rata basis.
A JO worker who has served the City government for five months but less than six months may get P5,000, while those who have worked for less than two months may get P1,000.
“The grant of gratuity pay to Contract of Service (COS)/JO workers has been made pursuant to administrative orders issued by the President in the case of the national government and through ordinances of local Sanggunian in local governments,” read part of the committee report of city councilor Rey Gealon.
Last month, acting mayor Alvin Garcia announced that Cebu City Hall's regular and casual employees will be getting Christmas bonuses of up P35,000. JO workers are technically not employees of the government, but Garcia said they will work on still giving JOs gratuity pay although at a lesser amount.
The approved committee report will then be used for the ordinance to support the budget request for the gratuity pay. If the ordinance gets approval from the council, it will be forwarded to the Mayor's office for signature then for processing of budget release.
For the fiscal year 2021, the grant of gratuity pay was made through Administrative Order No.46, series of 2021 by then President Rodrigo R. Duterte which covers COS/JOs in national government agencies, state universities and colleges, and government-owned-or-controlled-corporations and local water districts.
The order also enjoins local government units to grant gratuity pay to their own COS/JO workers through enactment of a supplemental budget and via Administrative Order No. 3, series of 2022 as authorized by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with the same provisions in A.O.No.46, Series of 2021.
“The proposed ordinance is within the powers of the Sanggumniang Panlungsod to enact pursuant to Section 458 of the Local Government Code and also conforms to the requirements for validity of an ordinance," added Gealon.
After the approval of the committee report in last Wednesday’s session presided by acting vice mayor Nestor Archival, Gealon said he is also optimistic that the proposed ordinance will be approved before Christmas. (CEBU NEWS)