City Hall Charter Day bonus justified in public hearing

CEBU, Philippines — The Charter Day bonus of Cebu City Hall employees, which is included in the P900 million Supplemental Budget (SB) 1 for 2024, was accordingly justified during a recent public hearing for the fund.

This is according to Councilor Noel Wenceslao, chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance of the Cebu City Council, following the public hearing of the SB 1 last Tuesday morning.

Reiterating what has been discussed during the hearing, the SB 1 is composed of the P205 million budget for the hosting of Palarong Pambansa 2024; the Charter Day bonus which is at P25,000 for regular and P5,000 for the Job Order employees; and the P600 million for transitional housing for the informal settlers who will be displaced in line with the efforts of Task Force Gubat sa Baha.

In an interview with The Freeman yesterday, March 6,2024, Wenceslao said the City Treasurer's Office (CTO) was able to present to the city council the availability of funds for the said proposal.

"According to her, there are still enough funds, especially for the bonus kay ang bonus man gud is taken from the savings of PS (Personal Services) na wala filled up," said Wenceslao.

Echoing what the CTO said, Wenceslao disclosed that the current net amount of the General Fund is at P2.6 billion. As for the Palarong Pambansa and the Transitional Housing budget proposal which is P805 million, Wenceslao said that its budget will be realigned for the Local Development Fund (LDF) that already has an allocation.

With this, Wenceslao said that there is enough funding to back SB 1.

Further, now that the public hearing has wrapped up, Wenceslao said he will be making the final draft of the SB 1, which will be deliberated by the city council this Friday, March 8, 2024.

“It is up to the majority of the councilors if they will go for the final amount that was proposed by the Executive or paubsan nila, so it is up to them. We will now proceed with the final deliberation,” said Wenceslao.

From his standpoint as the chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance, Wenceslao said that as far as the bonus is concerned, it is a reasonable amount considering that there are enough funds available.

For the Palarang Pambasa and the Transitional Housing proposed budget, Wenceslao said that the realignment of the LDF will pave the way for its source of funds.

“Kay di naman to magamit ang uban kay for the past previous years naman to na mga LDF na ilang gipang realign nga dili na magamit, so for me, in my personal note, I am in favor, I don’t know the wisdom sa ubang councilors,” said Wenceslao.

Should the majority of the council approve the proposed budget this Friday, Wenceslao said the ball to dispense the amount immediately will be up to the executive department. — /ATO (FREEMAN)