Cebu City OKs P35K bonus, scraps P88M livelihood program

The 16th Sangguniang Panlungsod of Cebu City held its regular session on March 26, 2025.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Hall employees can soon anticipate the release of their long-awaited Charter Day bonuses.

This after the City Council approved the first supplemental budget (SB1) on March 26.

The approved SB1, which was revised to reduce the initial proposal from P635 million to P587.7 million, includes an increased Charter Day bonus of P35,000 for each regular and casual employee, up from the original P25,000 allocation.

The bonus hike was made possible by reallocating funds initially set for an P88-million livelihood program, which was ultimately removed from the budget due to a lack of justification from the executive department.

Heated deliberations

Tension was present during the council session on Wednesday as Councilor James Anthony Cuenco, a member of the Committee on Budget and Finance, questioned the removal of the livelihood program.

READ: Cebu City employees to receive P35k Charter Day bonus, but….

Cebu City revises budget; cuts road, livelihood funds for employee bonuses

He argued that he had been excluded from key discussions on the budget adjustments.

He even went as far as offering to resign from the committee but later withdrew his resignation following an appeal from Committee Chairman Councilor Noel Wenceslao.

The decision to scrap the livelihood program was defended by Wenceslao and Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, who pointed out that the executive department, led by Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, failed to present a clear direction for the program despite multiple opportunities to do so.

“The committee of the budget and finance observe the lack of interest of the of the mayor as implementing office of the livelihood program amounting 88 million…There is no clear direction,” Wenceslao said.

Pesquera further noted that the program was not included in the request for exemption from the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) disbursement ban.

She said that it could be used for election-related purposes.

The budget committee initially reduced the proposed P100-million livelihood allocation to P88 million before ultimately slashing it entirely.

This allowed the additional funding for the Charter Day bonuses without increasing the overall budget.

Aside from the livelihood program, councilors also debated whether the city had already provided sufficient assistance through existing programs, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wenceslao argued that previous aid efforts and the city’s 2025 budget already included substantial allocations for social programs, making the additional P88-million allocation unnecessary.

Cuenco, however, appeared frustrated over the prioritization of budget allocations.

He said that while city employees would benefit from the increased bonuses, many impoverished residents who could have availed themselves of the livelihood program were left without support.

Despite the heated discussions, the council ultimately approved the final version of SB1. /clorenciana