CEBU City Councilor Noel Wenceslao has urged outgoing Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia to issue a memorandum authorizing the release of the service incentive premium for all job order (JO) personnel of the City Government.
Wenceslao, who chairs the committee on finance, made the request during a privilege speech at the City Council’s regular session on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. He said he had twice contacted Garcia and also instructed City Administrator Kristine Joyce Batucan regarding the non-release of the premium, but to no avail.
“For an unspecified reason, the service incentive premium was not yet processed for release,” Wenceslao said.
During his speech, Wenceslao also highlighted another concern: he has received reports from JOs who have not received their salaries because their appointments have not yet been issued. While he did not specify the exact number of affected JOs, Wenceslao noted that JOs in the Coastline Management Board have not received their salaries since October 2024.
He also requested the Office of the Mayor and the City Administrator’s Office to ensure the immediate release of JO appointments.
Vital role
Wenceslao emphasized the vital role JOs play in government service, asserting that some perform their duties more diligently and passionately than even some permanent employees. He clarified that although JOs are not entitled to mid-year and year-end bonuses and lack security of tenure, they are allowed to receive a service incentive premium of up to 20 percent of their wages.
He cited Ordinance 2744, Section 4, which mandates that the service incentive premium should have been released last month, in May.
Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera interjected, noting that during the recent national and local election campaign, she and Wenceslao were blamed for the non-release of the JOs’ salaries. “It’s the highest form of ingratitude that we work, we help them, and we are the ones blamed,” she said in Cebuano.
Pesquera added that she has been raising concerns with Batucan since April about the hiring of JOs without sufficient budgetary support. She stressed that the current administration should not allow this issue to burden the incoming administration.
In a text message to SunStar Cebu on Wednesday, Human Resource Development Office head Henry Tomalabcad stated he has yet to determine which offices have unpaid JOs.
Ordinance 2744, passed on May 22, 2024, stipulates that all JOs are entitled to a service premium pay not exceeding P5,000 in May and November of every year. This grant is contingent on a declaration of propriety by the local chief executive, the availability of funds and at least three months of satisfactory service as certified by department heads by April 30 and Oct. 31 of each year. / JPS