SOME City Hall casual and regular employees may not receive the P25,000 bonus in full, particularly those who have not reached the required satisfactory mark rating, and Job Order personnel (JOs) may not receive the P5,000 gratuity pay pending their appointments.
On Friday, March 8, 2024, the Cebu City Council approved the first supplemental budget of the year amounting to P963 million, which includes the item for employees cash incentives.
Other items include P205 million for the Palarong Pambansa, P119 million for the charter day bonus, P16 million for JOs gratuity pay, P21 million for City Council upgrade, and P600 million for the Transitional Housing.
In an interview on Monday, March 11, 2024, Cebu City Councilor Noel Eleuterio Wenceslao, chairman of the committee on budget and finance said he already talked with Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell to prioritize the appointments of the JOs.
Asked if it is due to the absence of their appointments that JOs were not able to receive their salaries yet, Wenceslao said “yes.”
But Wenceslao clarified that not all 3,357 do not have the appointments; only some.
He also said that not all did not receive their salaries, but only those who do not have their appointments yet.
He said the process of JOs’ appointments will still need a manpower request that the mayor also needs to sign.
JOs not getting salaries
Cebu City Budget Officer Jerone Castillo said it is because of the downsizing and rightsizing initiative, saying they cannot yet determine the actual numbers of JOs.
He said if the number will be downsized, they cannot yet issue an appointment.
“Gamay lang sa nga sakripisyo because of the process and protocol that we have to follow, but once correct na ang size based on the evaluation of the group, as instructed by the mayor, everything else will follow,” Castillo said.
Meanwhile, Human Resource Development Officer Henry Tomalabcab said the manpower request was already signed by the mayor, hoping that by next week, JOs would already receive their salaries.
Tomalabcab explained that there was a delay in the salary due to the minor correction within the form and discrepancy in numbers.
He said the mayor wanted to change the term Job Order Personnel to Project Based Personnel, which they already applied.
The change of terminology is in preparation for the outsourcing initiative, according to Tomalabcab.
He also said they could not determine the number of JOs yet due to the downsizing and rightsizing.
He said the total number of JOs is 3,357, as of December 31, 2023.
Not all casual and regular employees may get bonus in full
Castillo said the reason they have the bonus is in relation to the Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence’s (Praise) committee resolution that recommended the grant of cash incentives.
The Disaster Office obtained the highest honor, the Gawad Kalasag.
Castillo said under the program of Praise, they can recommend to the mayor for the grant of service incentives, which was already approved by the Council.
However, not all casual and regular employees may receive the full P25,000 bonus.
Castillo explained that those who serve less than four months will receive a percentage of the total approved bonus.
He said casual and regular employees who serve for three months will only receive 40 percent of the P25,000. Those serving for two months will receive 30 percent, while those serving for one month will receive 20 percent. Employees serving for less than one month will receive 10 percent of the bonus.
He said they are adopting the previous procedure that those who are less than one month, less than two months or three months will not receive the full amount.
When asked out of over 4,794 casual and regular employees, how many will receive the P25,000 in full, Castillo said only the Human Resource and Development Office could give the exact figure.
But Tomalabcab did not give any figures, saying they do not have the figures yet.
Regarding the JOs, the basis for the grant is an ordinance, according to Castillo.
Satisfactory mark rating
Tomalabcab said based on the guidelines, the employee must have a mark of satisfactory in his or her latest rating period, which is from July 2023 to December 2023, as the basis for an employee receiving a bonus.
Another guideline, he said, is an employee must be in active service from February 2023 to February 2024.
The satisfactory rating requirement is based on Individual Performance Commitment Review (IPCR), which requires each department to submit an evaluation of their employees every six months.
He said the forms were from the Civil Service Commission. (AML)