CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Capitol employees said Monday they are willing to accept Governor Eddie Panlilio’s condition on the implementation of Ordinance 378.
The said ordinance mandates the release of P20,000 extra cash gift to some 2,100 employees.
Capitol Employees Union (CEU) President Remegio Capuchino told Sun.Star Pampanga that Capitol employees, including CEU officers on Thursday’s general assembly here, have accepted the proposed agreement between Panlilio and the CEU to have the P10,000 of the P20,000 extra cash gift be subjected to performance evaluation guidelines.
Capuchino said his fellow employees “are so desperate” to receive the extra cash gift to pay debts and other related expenses that they are willing to abide by Panlilio’s insistence to have the other P10,000 be given only based on performance evaluation.
Despite this, Capuchino said he is confident the Capitol employees would be able to receive the full P20,000.
He said most employees have been performing well and have been abiding by their respective offices standards.
“We would make sure that the employees would receive P20,000. We would ask the governor to present to us the guidelines before they are implemented,” Capuchino said.
“We would make sure that our employees are not put in a disadvantage position based on the guidelines to be formed by the department heads this week,” Capuchino added.
Panlilio is set to ask the Provincial Board (PB) for the approval of the supplemental budget for the extra cash and performance bonuses.
However, Panlilio, last week, said he would need “protection” in case of legal action from the PB.
“What I foresee here is that even if we request for the supplemental budget for the bonuses again, the PB would insist on Ordinance 378, which to us does not exist anymore. The union and I have met to devise a way to solve this but the concern of our provincial administrator (Vivian Dabu) is that I have to be protected also since I could be sued if I implement the P10,000-P10,000 scheme based on the same ordinance,” Panlilio told Sun.Star Pampanga in an earlier interview.
But Vice Governor Joseller “Yeng” Guiao told Sun.Star Pampanga in an interview Monday the PB will not file any case against Panlilio.
“His (Panlilio) worries are baseless and he is merely finding an excuse not to implement the P20,000 bonuses. We (PB) have already an agreement with the union that if they wave the P10,000 under the performance guideline it is up to them,” he said, stressing the PB will not file a case against Panlilio.
“This is just a simple issue. There is nothing illegal in giving the employees P20,000 bonus each. We have funds and they deserve it,” Guiao added.
The issue of the P20,000 extra cash gift has been raging since late December last year.
The PB approved Ordinance 378 that entitles Capitol employees to receive P20,000 extra cash gift each.
However, Panlilio did not implement the ordinance and returned it to the PB without any action, saying half of the bonus should be subjected under the performance evaluation.