One can read a lot into the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc’s refusal to accept the P30,000 cash incentive included in the P207-million Supplemental Budget 2 (SB2) that was approved by the City Council last Monday.
To their critics led by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, the BO-PK is being a spoilsport and holier than thou by telling the City Treasurer’s Office that they would accept only P10,000 for themselves.
In saying P30,000 was “too much,” the BO-PK bloc suggested that the Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) of one-month’s salary for employees that was part of the stalled P2.8-billion Supplemental Budget 1 (SB1) should be included in the SB2 instead of an across-the-board P30,000 cash incentive for everyone in City Hall.
However, City Administrator Lucelle Mercado reasoned that the PEI issued by President Benigno Aquino III and available only for this year was not sufficient as most city employees had salaries P10,000 and below/
With P30,000 across-the-board, Mercado said everyone in City Hall will be happy including, as some radio reports naughtily suggested, a gofer of Mayor Rama who hands him the ball whenever he plays in those City Hall or barangay pickup basketball games.
Initially, it was expected that SB 2 would have smooth sailing as both sides of the political divide agreed to make City Hall employees happy for Christmas.
Whether the amount is inappropriate is up to the Commission on Audit when it reviews the expense.
If you recall, however, auditors thumbed down the generosity of the City Council and mayor’s office in giving P20,000 in December as calamity aid across the board in 2013 after typhoon Yolanda and the earthquake, even if not all employees or officials suffered from the calamities.
The city couldn’t afford a yearend bonus from savings, so what came out was “calamity assistance”.
Everyone welcomes extra cash for Christmas.
But isn’t the whole point of working in government to render service to the public, not to profit from them?
This kind of self-serving mentality drove President Aquino to lash out at government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) for giving their officials and employees fat cash bonuses and incentives despite earning little to no profit for the government and their employers, the public.
Mayor Rama is an elected official, not a CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
If he and the City Council want to play Santa Claus to city employees they must be ready to justify to Cebu city taxpayers whether this is a judicious use of public funds or misplaced generosity.