Holiday bonus for Cebu prov workers

More than 25,000 barangay workers in Cebu province will bring home cash bonuses for the  holidays.

The Cebu Provincial Board (PB) yesterday approved a supplemental budget for   P134,457,000 in a special session. Of this amount, P52.15 million is for the productivity incentive of barangay workers in the province’s component towns and cities.

The province appropriated P23.75 million for the allowance of barangay tanods under the “Peace and Order Program” while another P28.4 million was set aside for incentives of barangay health workers and other employees.

Both outlays are  listed under the Governor’s Office.

Barangay tanods and barangay health aides will get P1,500 each while barangay health workers will get P2,400. The same amount will be given to barangay scholars and daycare workers.

The Capitol also allocated P30 million for Philhealth coverage of of indigents; P20 million for assistance to barangays, towns and cities; P3.5 million for janitorial services; P3 million for hospital waste disposal; P2 million for the Local Assistance Fund of PB members and P1 million for food for inmates in the Cebu provincial jail.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said  the incentives will be distributed  around the province starting  December 3.

Those who received cash incentives in December last year were 14,459 barangay tanods, 531 health aides, 7,772 health workers, 769 nutrition scholars and 1,543 daycare workers.

The disbursement was disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA) two years ago but the  Davide administration will push through with the  incentives for 2014.

State auditors in a September 2012 memorandum said the honorarium for barangay workers “may not have legal basis” and may result in “irregular expenditure of government funds.”

But Magpale and Davide defended the cash gift, saying the honoraria was a one-time payment and  not included in the prohibition of giving monthly honoraria to barangay workers.