REGULAR and casual employees of Cebu City Hall are set to receive their mid-year bonus in the first week of November.
The bonus, or the 14th month pay, is on top of the P5,000 cash gifts they are entitled to receive.
After the flag-raising ceremony on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia directed the city treasurer’s and accounting offices to prioritize the release of City Hall employees’ 14th month pay, aiming for a disbursement date of November 1st.
Garcia said the mid-year bonus should be released not later than Nov. 15, in accordance with regulations.
However, with a new memorandum from the Department of Budget and Management, an earlier release has now been approved.
“I give instructions to the department heads, as well as Accounting and the City Treasurer’s Office that you can now start releasing the mid-year bonus and cash gift as early as Nov. 1, as long as the documentation from that particular department is complete in form and in substance,” Garcia said in a press conference on Monday.
“That’s basically one-month salary for the employees, plus P5,000,” he added.
Henry Tomalabcab, Human Resources Development Office head, in a phone interview on Tuesday, Oct. 29, said City Hall workers on a job order contract are not eligible for the 14th month pay; however, they will receive a separate premium pay, whose amount will be determined by the mayor.
Previously, the mid-year bonus was released in the third week of November, while the cash gift was distributed by December, Garcia said.
The mayor also urged the City Council to act upon his proposed third supplemental budget (SB) amounting over to P300 million. SB 3 contains the funding for the first tranche of the salary adjustments for City Hall employees under the Marcos administration’s Executive
Order 64, which aims to increase the salaries of civilian government personnel across various branches of the Philippine government.
Christmas bonus
Garcia further that all employees, including regular, casual, job order, and first-time barangay workers, will receive a Christmas bonus of P25,000.
“If they (city councilors) approve it, good. If they reduced it, it would also be good,” Garcia said.
On Monday, Garcia told City Hall employees that he is optimistic that the council will approve SB 3, allowing their Christmas bonus to be released as early as the first week of December. / EHP