Cebu City Hall employees continue to wait for release of P15,000 Charter Day bonus

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama talks with Cebu City Hall employees on the ongoing evaluation of their performance and renewal of contracts after the early morning flag ceremony on Monday, October 10, 2022. | Photo courtesy of Ruel Rosello/Cebu City Public Information Office

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Casual and regular employees of Cebu City Hall may have to wait a little bit more for the release of their P15,000 Charter Day bonus, as the city council is still set to approve the ordinance supporting Supplemental Budget (SB) no. 1 for this year.

In an interview hours before the session on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, Councilor Noel Wenceslao, chairperson of the council’s Committee on Budget and Finance, said the approval of the requested SB 1 amounting to P67.589 million has been included in the agenda for the session on Wednesday.

However, he might withdraw it as the council still has to approve the Committee report for the public hearing conducted for SB 1 on Tuesday, March 21, as part of the process.

The council was supposed to conduct the public hearing at an earlier date, but it was postponed until March 21.

“Alanganin naman today, so it (committee report) will be read on next Wednesday then inig ka human ipa-approve nato and then I will propose for the final deliberation,” he told reporters.

“The SB1, basically, kay katong gisaad ni mayor nga incentive for more than 5,000 employees and pirmiro, nisaad siya’g P50,000, but the budget only allows P15,000,” he added.

READ: Cebu City employees to receive P15,000 as Charter Day bonus

Wenceslao, however, said he is confident that the SB 1 will be approved, especially since they already received the approval of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on the P50 billion annual budget of Cebu City–except for a P300 million budget for the disaster funds, which the DBM tagged as “partly inoperative” after the council failed to include it in the Annual Investment Fund.

“Importante sad to kay the supplemental budget is an accessory to the Annual Budget. Kung inoperative ang annual, wala sad jud tay supplemental,” he said.

The DBM’s final review of a local government unit (LGU) budget pertains to transactions or requests by the LGU on review of the Annual and Supplemental Budget, consistent with the provisions of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code.

Moreover, Wenceslao also said that the treasurer’s office already certified that there is already an appropriation for the requested SB 1: “There is enough money to disburse that amount,” he added.

Based on Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s letter to the council last Feb. 21, 2023, the requested P67.5 million SB 1 for 2023 will cover the urgent and necessary expenses for city hall’s general public services, including the budget for the personal services of the Cebu City Council (P4,785,000) and all offices under the City Admin’s Office (P58,125,000).

These also include the budget for maintenance and other operating expenses of the Office of the City Accountant (P204,000), Department of Public Services (P204,000), and the Interfund Transfer/Subsidy to special accounts (P4,271,480).

The mayor proposed to source the funds for this supplemental budget from the city’s savings from its current appropriations for personal services.   /rcg

READ MORE: Rama asks for P67.5M supplemental budget