Monday, December 22, 2008 LGU employees dismayed by P3T extra cash gift By Ian Ocampo Flora
ANGELES CITY -- It's a not-so-happy Christmas holiday for City Hall employees here.
While employees of the Pampanga Provincial Government and the City of San Fernando are now enjoying their extra cash gifts of P20,000 and P10,000, respectively, the around 2,000 City Hall employees here will have to make do with a "minimal" extra cash gift.
This, as Mayor Francis "Blueboy" Nepomuceno announced on Friday night that the City Government will be giving only a P3,000 extra cash gift to each of City Hall employees, while the another P7,000 will be given next year.
But rather than earning the praise of most employees, Nepomuceno's announcement met dismay and criticism, as some are even raising the question whether or not the highly urbanized city is in "deep trouble" with its finances.
"Three thousand is an obvious insult by the City Government and the promised seven thousand next year is a 'consuelo de bobo.' The City Government should be more transparent with how it got its computation of the extra cash gift," a City Government employee on Saturday said.
City Hall employees have been clamoring for a higher extra cash gift. Some said the city is well within its means to provide at least P10,000, as it has almost P1 billion-budget for 2008. Employees argue that the City Hall should have saved enough and even hinted "overspending" might be the possible reason behind their dismal extra cash gift for the Christmas season.
"They think (City Hall officials) they earn the admiration of the employees with what they are doing. In fact, they are displeasing city employees," an official of the employees' union here said.
But City Administrator Bong Alvaro defended the mayor's announcement and said since the extra cash gift is not within the expenses of the City Government, they had found it prudent to release the other part of the cash gift for next year.
But employees also questioned the financial standing of the city in terms of tax collection and spending.
"It is impossible that the city has no savings. But with what they are giving now, it means there is a problem somewhere. Where did the money go?" the union official asked.
Asked if the city has saved money, Alvaro said: "There is but you don't just give them away. You have to consider cash flow also."
He further said money that was targeted for a year could be collected immediately. "Others may not pay on time and pay at the deadline set forth, therefore that is how the treasurer schedules payments depending on what was collected so that she does not have much prior year obligations," he said.
Alvaro added that their tax collection efficiency is around "90 percent."
Some City Government employees said the announcement of a two-part extra cash gift tells a lot about how the city officials prioritize their employees.
"They can spend millions for traffic lights that do not solve the traffic problem; for street lights that do not effectively light the streets and for service cars of their allied officials and the police but they cannot even appropriate a P10,000-one time cash gift," the union official said.
The official said employees have been expecting at least half of the P10,000 to be given this month.
"What the City Government should do is sell the service vehicles of the city councilors instead. The money would be enough to finance the extra cash gift," the official added.
