ALL employees of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental will receive an extra bonus this Christmas as those classified as job orders and under contract of service (COS) will also receive their gratuity pay worth P3,000 each.
Provincial Administrator lawyer Rayfrando Diaz II said Wednesday, December 15, that there are legal prohibitions that disqualify them to receive additional benefits.
"If we are allowed by law (to give them more benefits), why not," he said.
The law only allows giving gratuity pay for them "which we are ready to release and it has ready funds,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Sanggunian Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental approved a P83.2-million supplemental budget, P78 million of which will go to the additional bonuses of the provincial government employees, Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer said.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson Monday night announced that the 3,400 Capitol employees will receive additional bonuses totaling P65,000 each this year.
The additional bonus is composed of P25,000 as Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) bonus, P25,000 as Incentive Benefit for Exemplary Service (IBES), P5,000 for Performance-Based Incentive (PBI) and P10,000 as Service Recognition Incentive (SRI).
The CNA, IBES and PBI will all be released next week, Diaz said.
“We are waiting for an authority from the Department of Budget and Management to release the remaining SRI,” he added.
The payroll is now being fast-tracked so that it can be released to employees before Christmas Day, Diaz said.