DBM allots P11.68B for gov’t employees’ P10,000 bonus

MANILA, Philippines — Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said on Monday his department has proposed to Malacañang an P11.68-billion kitty for a P10,000 productivity enhancement incentive (PEI) for national government employees.

Abad said in a statement state personnel would receive the PEI, which should be covered by an administrative order, on top of their 13th month pay and P5,000 cash gift – both of which have been set to be given out in the second half of this month.

The budget chief explained that while similar incentives have been granted in past years, Malacañang, this time around, would shoulder the full amount instead of providing only P7,000 and then requiring state agencies to provide a counterpart of P3,000 which should come from their savings.

“Under the old policy, there are agencies who cannot provide their P3,000 share in full or in part, to their employees due to insufficient savings,” he said.

“To be fair to all employees, we are proposing that the full P10,000 will be given to them through the national government,” he added.

Abad also said that Malacanang would do so “as a proof of the [government’s] stable fiscal situation,” which he said was due to improved management of expenditure and budget deficit.

Further, he said that the new policy would prevent agencies from artificially generating savings — at the expense of the programs and projects they have been tasked to implement — to finance their share of PEI.

Earlier, Abad said, agencies and state-run firms refrained from hiring new employees in order to generate savings that were converted to bonuses at the end of the year.

The proposed order makes eligible for the PEI those employees that have a status of permanent, temporary, casual or contractual, and that are and still active in the service as of Nov. 30 this year.

The full amount will be given for those who have rendered at least four months of service as of that date.

For employees of state-run firms and government financial institutions, the amount will be charged against the savings of these government firms, whether in full or in part, depending on the sufficiency of funds.

As for employees in the legislature and the judiciary as well as from other offices with fiscal autonomy, a PEI of not more than P10,000 may be granted depending on their available savings.