MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/20 December) — Officials and regular employees of the city government here are the envy of their counterparts in other cities in Mindanao: they will be receiving P50,000 each as yearend cash gift.
But job order employees, employees of national government agencies, barangay workers, teachers, policemen, even CVOs (civilian volunteers organization), will also receive cash gifts ranging from P1,000 to P25,000 each.
The City Council on December 17 approved the release of P75.46 million for its 1,834 employees and about 5,000 other government workers based in Malaybalay City, including those working in national government agencies. The amounts will be released before Christmas day.
Republic Act 6686, as amended by RA. 8441, authorizes the grant of annual Christmas bonus and/or cash gift to national and local government personnel starting1988.
Budget Circular 2010-1 issued on April 28 this year provides that government officials and employees are entitled to a year-end bonus equivalent to one month of pay and a cash gift of P5,000.
The same circular states that what used to be known generally as “Christmas bonus and/or cash gift” in the annual General Appropriations Act has been referred to as “Year-End Bonus and Cash Gift” in the subsequent Appropriations Acts, “in deference to the various faiths embraced by government personnel.”
City government workers here have received the mandatory one-month bonus (often referred to as 13th month pay) in two tranches – in May and November – and are just awaiting the release of the cash gifts.
Of the 1,834 employes, 508 elected, appointed, regular and casual employees will receive P50,000 each for a total of P25.4 million, P10,000 higher than last year’s P40,000 each.
Job order employees who comprise 70 percent of the 1,834 employees or total of 1,326, will receive P25,000 each, P5,000 higher than last year’s P20,000 cash gift each.
Councilor Roberto Casanova, chair of the council committee on appropriations, said the cash gift is chargeable against savings from “personal services, maintenance and other operating expenses, gender and development fund and the special provision allocation as productivity enhancement incentives.”
This year’s cash gift budget is at least P15 million higher than last year’s P60 million.
Employees and chiefs of office of national line agencies based in the city will be receiving P10,000 and P15,000 each, respectively.
Officials of the city’s 46 barangays will receive cash gifts, too, amounting to P11.7 million.
Barangay captains, for example, will receive P15,000 each while barangay councilors, treasurers, secretaries and Sangguniang Kabataan chair will receive P10,000 each.
Health workers, nutrition scholars, daycare workers, hilots (midwives), CVOs will receive P3,000 each.
Purok presidents, Lupon tagapamayapa and barangay record keepers will get P1,000 each.
But only the incumbent barangay officials or those who assumed their post on December 1 will receive the cash gift, according to the guidelines set by the Council.
Also to be given cash gifts are teachers and their supervisors at P3,000 and P10,000 each, respectively.
A total of 1,045 teachers assigned in Malaybalay city will receive P3,000 each from the city government.
The 78 officers of the Malaybalay City Police Office will also receive P10,000 each, and so will rank and file employees of the Commission on Audit, City Trial Court, City Prosecutor’s Office, Department of Interior and Local Government, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, Parole Probation Administration and City Health Office.
Officers of Special bodies and women’s federation presidents in the barangays will also receive a thousand pesos each.
In Kidapawan, city government employees will receive P38,000 cash gift.
In Koronadal, regular employees of the city government will receive P25,000 each while casual employees will receive P2,500 each (earlier reported as P27,500 each for regular employees while casual employees will receive P25,000 each. We apologize for this error).
Government employees in the bigger Mindanao cities will be receiving cash gifts less than those in the smaller cities like Malaybalay, Kidapawan and Koronadal.
In Mindanao’s biggest city, Davao City, employees in the city’s plantilla have been allocated P10,000 each as cash gift and P5,000 each for job order workers.
In Cagayan de Oro, the city government’s employees there received only P3,500 as cash gift. The City Council last week approved an additional P1,000 to the P2,500 cash gifts to make it P3,500. Their counterparts in Misamis Oriental province will be receiving today cash gifts equivalent to a 14th month pay. (Walter I. Balane with reports from Carolyn O. Arguillas, Malu Manar, Allen V. Estabillo, Germelina A. Lacorte and BenCyrus G. Ellorin/MindaNews)