Thursday, December 04, 2008 Dabu: I'm not against release of bonuses By Ian Ocampo Flora
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- In the midst of the brewing issue on the unreleased bonuses of Capitol employees here, Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu said she was not questioning or against the release of the employees' bonuses.
She clarified that what she has been questioning was the "performance evaluation" of some employees in view of the lack of an "acceptable performance evaluation guideline."
"I am not against the employee bonus. What I am questioning is the presence of performance evaluation despite the fact that the guidelines have not been shown to us," Dabu said.
The issue sprouted when Governor Eddie Panlilio promised to give an additional P10,000 bonus based on the "performance" of Capitol employees. This is on top of the P10,000 outright bonus given by the Capitol.
But some Capitol employees have expressed disappointment over the sudden "strict implementation" of the performance evaluation.
Dabu said she is calling for the assessment of employees using the "Praise" evaluation.
Previous performance evaluations were done using the Civil Service Commission-approved Programs on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence (Praise) and the Performance Evaluation System (PES), which was used for promotion.
Panlilio, in later interviews, said that all Capitol employees should be subjected to a performance evaluation before receiving the additional P10,000 "performance bonus" that may range as high as the total amount of P10,000 or nothing.
"They can receive the full amount or even nothing, it all depends on the performance," Panlilio said.
He added that such set-up would be fair for employees who are "doing their jobs."
A middle-ranked Capitol employee told Sun.Star that the so-called "performance bonus" of the governor "has been unheard of in the local government."
"I am surprised that the governor is calling the P10,000 as performance bonus. The performance bonus is only used in the National Government while the counterpart of it in the local government is 'extra cash gift.' They can look this up and have it researched by their legal department," the employee said.
The Capitol employee said the "extra cash gift" is given to Capitol employees outright.
"The so-called performance bonus and the extra cash gift are given to employees but both have no existing guideline from the local government," the source said.
Traditionally, the source said, the Capitol releases the extra cash gift without any pre-condition of a performance evaluation.
"If they are to give any bonus, they should give it in line with the Christmas season. If they want to evaluate employee performance, they should do it all year round without the prospect of money as reward," the source said, adding that the Capitol should be more "considerate" during the Christmas season.
