Bulk of P55M to fund P10K bonus for CH employees

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama submitted his third Supplemental Budget (SB3) for this year worth P55.98 million.

The bulk  goes to paying the P10,000 performance bonus for each City Hall employee.

A total of P41.63 million will go to the general fund while the other P14.35 million will go to special accounts.

The bulk of the P41.63 million general fund or P35.13 million will cover the employees’ Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) which is  subject to guidelines of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“We based this on the verbal query from the DBM that the productivity bonus for each employee will be P10,000. But DBM has yet to issue guidelines on the amount and the qualifications,” City Budget Officer Marietta Gumia said.

She said the amount was based on previous experience where all casual and regular employees were given the amount as long as they have been working in City Hall for at least four months as of October.

Appropriation

Though the bonus came in time for December, Gumia refused to call it a Christmas bonus. She said the DBM officially refers to it as PEI.

The P35.13 million outlay will cover the PEI of offices under the City Administrator’s Office.

Other appropriations under the general fund include: terminal leave benefits under the city administrator’s office (P3 million), terminal leave benefits under the office of the City Council Secretariat (P500,000) and a lump sum appropriation of P3 million as honoraria for the commissions under the mayor’s office.

Waive

City Hall is expected to source the money from different savings that the city made including P2 million from retirement benefits and P14.63 million savings from interest expenses in Cebu City’s loan with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for the South Road Properties (SRP).

Gumia said the city allocated P177.8 million this year for the interest expense but only P145.9 million was used.

The remaining P25 million will be sourced from savings from commitment fees and other charges.

“This refers to the one percent guaranty fee being paid by the city to LBP for the SRP loan. But the Land Bank earlier said they will waive this already. We are just waiting for authority from the City Council for the mayor to amend the contract with LBP,” Gumia said.

Gumia said Councilor Noel Wenceslao will be sponsoring a resolution for this.

She said once the city government agrees with Land Bank to waive the guaranty fee, the previously approved appropriation can be used to fund SB 3.

For special accounts, all of the P14.35 million will be allocated as PEI for the employees under the city’s special accounts.