ALL of Cebu City Hall’s officials and casual and regular employees will receive P30,000 across the board from the City Government.
The City Council approved yesterday the City’s second supplemental budget, which amounts to more than P201.9 million and includes P127.1 million for cash incentives for 4,800 officials and employees.
The P30,000 cash incentive is the biggest so far that will be given by the City.
Councilors Alvin Dizon and Mary Ann delos Santos abstained from voting for the passage of the supplemental budget ordinance, saying the P30,000 cash incentive is “too much.”
“I am not against the giving of cash incentives to the employees but I cannot accept the P30,000. It is too much. It is not fair for the taxpayers in the city to shoulder more than P120 million for the cash incentives of the employees. The City should be sensitive and prudent in spending its money,” said Dizon.
He then asked the City Treasurer’s Office to give him only P10,000 of the incentive and return the P20,000 to the City’s coffers.
Delos Santos also abstained, saying it is “extravagant” and “unconscionable.”
“The money will be sourced from the taxpayers, many of whom are wallowing in poverty. Though I fully recognize the efforts of our employees, to give such amount at the expense of taxpayers simply does not make sense to me,” she said.
Delos Santos also said that she will only receive P10,000 out of the total cash incentive, as it is already reasonable.
Councilors Lea Japson and Margarita Osmeña voted for the passage of the budget ordinance but they also asked that the incentive to be given to them will only be P10,000. Both councilors are members of the budget and finance committee that prepared the supplemental budget ordinance.
The council asked the executive department to release the cash incentive before Dec. 11.
During the budget deliberation yesterday, some of the councilors asked how the executive department came up with the P30,000.
Savings
City Administrator Dr. Lucelle Mercado said the amount was based on the City’s savings.
Mercado also said they initially thought of giving a cash incentive equivalent to one month’s salary but that would mean only a few people will get P20,000 or more.
“Majority of our employees are receiving at least P9,000 salary. There is a very small percentage who receive a higher salary. To make it fair and considering it’s Christmas, we decided to give P30,000 across the board,” she said.
Mercado said that the executive department wants to give cash incentive to the employees for the work they have done, considering that the City has been awarded as the third most competitive city out of the 142 highly-urbanized cities in the country by the National Competitiveness Council in Manila last July.
The City jumped four places from the seventh spot last year.
Dizon believes, though, that the City should be sensitive to the needs of those outside City Hall. He said the council received a letter from one of the fire victims in Barangay Kamagayan that he did not receive yet any financial assistance from the City.
Yesterday morning, Dizon said he received another letter from a fire victim in Barangay Sambag I, stating that they did not receive cash aid either.
First budget
As for those affected by the development of Doña Pepang Cemetery into a public park, Dizon said some of them reportedly did not receive housing materials yet.
Mercado said she will look into the matter.
Councilor Japson asked why the City is giving cash incentives yet the executive department did not include the productivity enhancement incentive (PEI), which is equivalent to one month’s salary.
City Legal Office chief Atty. Jerone Castillo said that the PEI is different from the cash incentive since the former is mandated by the National Government, while the latter is initiated by the City.
City Accountant Atty. Mark Salomon, for his part, said there is only one PEI that was ordered by President Benigno Aquino III, and the employees’ PEI has already been included in the proposed P8.9-billion first supplemental budget.
He said the executive department cannot propose another PEI.
The first supplemental budget has still not been acted upon by the council. The majority is waiting for the final outcome of a case filed to stop the use of P8.3 billion in down payments for the sale of lots in the South Road Properties (SRP).
Garbage fees
As to the P55-million additional budget for garbage collection and disposal, Department of Public Services chief Engr. Roland Ardosa told the council during the budget hearing that P24.3 million of it will be used to pay for the tipping fee at the private sanitary landfill in Consolacion.
About P27.2 million will be used to pay for services of private haulers at the transfer station in Inayawan.
The council, however, only approved P40 million since they raised questions on the operation of the transfer station.
They placed a special provision in the ordinance that the P40 million will be used solely for the tipping fees in Consolacion.
The second supplemental budget approved by the council yesterday is less than the P217-million original proposal of the executive department (not P206 million as earlier reported).
Other items in the approved budget are more than P3 million to pay for interest on the SRP loan and P1.5 million in bank charges, as well as P5.8 million in calamity funds.
The second supplemental budget of the City was tackled, deliberated upon and approved by the legislative body all in one day.
Mandaue
Meanwhile, in Mandaue City, officials also made sure that job-order workers will not welcome Christmas and New Year empty-handed.
Although they will not receive a year-end cash incentive, close to 2,000 job-order workers will get some cash because of the salary increase approved by the City six months ago.
The Local Finance Committee gave the go-signal yesterday morning to grant the salary differential, said City Budget Officer Giovanni Tianero.
The City Council last July passed an ordinance raising the daily wage of job-order workers from P340 to 375, but the City opted to give the salary differential at the end of the year.
Tianero said the City can only grant the increase if funds are available, and the City normally determines if it has enough cash toward the middle of the year and the end of the year.
“The City Council and the executive branch have thought of this way so job-order employees will have something to receive for Christmas, considering that the Commission on Audit (COA) has not yet ruled on our appeal after it disallowed the year-end cash incentive we previously granted to our job-order employees,” Tianero told
Sun.Star Cebu.
Go-signal
COA earlier told the City to return to its coffers the cash it gave as year-end incentive to job-order workers, including Clean and Green employees and barangay nutrition and health workers.
“We have yet to receive a go-signal that we can give cash incentive to our job-order workers, and that is really bad news for them. So this is our way of giving back to our job-order workers,” Tianero said.
If the job-order worker has been with the city when the P35 salary increase took effect last July, then he or she will receive almost P4,000.
Tianero said department heads have been instructed to prepare the payroll. “We hope the salary differential will be released before Christmas,” he said.
Last month, the City Council approved the granting of year-end cash incentive to regular workers and elected officials.
More than 500 city officials and employees are eligible to get the incentive, with those earning a monthly salary of P10,000 and above getting an amount equivalent to one month’s salary, and those earning less receiving P10,000.
SOURCE:
P30K bonus in Cebu City Hall | Sun.Star
P30K bonus in Cebu City Hall
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