KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/23 December) – Cash gifts ranging from P2,000 to P35,000 each were released to the city government’s 1,500 workers on Thursday.
Regular and casual employees numbering 620 received P35,000 each as cash gift, on top of the 13th month pay they received last month.
Job order employees received P2,000 each as cash gift and P1,000 worth of gift certificates.
The city government has 770 job order workers.
Each of the 141 teachers whose salaries are taken from the Local School Board’s Special Education Fund, received P5,000 each.
The City Council passed on Friday Supplemental Budget no. 4 amounting to P4.5 million for the cash gifts.
The huge amount surprised many City Hall employees.
Despite the non-collection of real property tax this year from tge Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the country’s biggest producer of renewable energy which owns two geothermal power plants located here, the city managed to generate savings, officials said.
Magda Bernabe, chief of the Human Resource and Management Office, said the city’s income does not only depend on the collections of real property taxes from the EDC.
She said the other sources are collections from business taxes, market and terminal fees, rentals of vehicles and heavy equipment, licensing, community taxes, garbage fees, and professional fees.
“The savings depend much on our budget and the collections. If we collect more than our target, we will have much savings, which we give back to the employees as bonuses before the year ends. We are mandated by law to do that,” she said.
In North Cotabato province, regular and casual government employees received P30,000 cash gift each while job order workers, P10,000 each.
Malaybalay City’s employees received cash gifts of P50,000 each while job order workers received P25,000 each. (Malu C. Manar/MindaNews)
