CEBU, Philippines – Regular and casual employees of the Talisay City government are likely to receive at least P30,000 in Christmas bonuses this year.
The City Council is expected to approve today the fifth supplemental budget requested by Mayor Johnny De los Reyes which includes appropriation for the yearly incentives.
The appropriation, which was under Other Items in the budget, amounted to P23 million.
Vice Mayor Romeo Villarante told The FREEMAN they are set to approve the budget after their deliberation at the council session today.
He said regular and casual employees with salaries of not more than P30,000 will receive a bonus of P30,000 while those with salaries of P30,000 plus will get bonus equal to their monthly salary.
Job order workers are also expected to receive cash incentives. Those JOs who started working in July until this month will receive P50 for every day they reported for work.
The bonuses may be released either this week or next.
But while the passing of the budget for Christmas bonuses is seen to be smooth-sailing, Villarante said it will not be the case for other items requested by De los Reyes in his SB-5.
Aside from the bonuses, De los Reyes is asking for intelligence fund worth P4.5 million; P3.6 million to buy vehicles and P60,000 for water work projects.
However, the vice mayor said they will not allocate any amount for the mayor’s intelligence fund, arguing that the latter could not use the amount anymore because it is already the end of the year.
Villarante said the mayor may not be able to liquidate his intelligence fund on time.
Other items will also be slashed, the vice mayor added.
Last Friday, the Cebu City government also gave P30,000 yearend cash incentive to each of its 4,800 regular and casual employees. This, despite the opposition by at least four members of the City Council.
JOs in Cebu City are not, however, entitled to cash gifts this Christmas. Instead, they will receive a few kilos of rice and ham.
In Mandaue City, officials allowed for the release P10,000 each for city officials and employees with a salary bracket of P10,000 and above.
Those whose income is below the P10,000 mark will, meanwhile, get an incentive equivalent to their monthly wage. (FREEMAN)