P29M for Tacloban bonuses

TACLOBAN CITY—Government officials and employees of this city will celebrate the holidays richer by up to P25,000 each.

The city council on Wednesday approved a budget of P29 million for additional Christmas bonuses for officials and employees of the city, including those who do not enjoy security of tenure.

The bonuses range from P5,000 to P25,000 for several officials including the city mayor.

Vicente Dy, city budget officer, said the additional bonus would be given also in time for the third anniversary of Tacloban’s conversion into a highly urbanized city.

He said Mayor Alfred Romualdez, Vice Mayor Arvin Antoni, 10 city councilors (including the mayor’s wife, former actress Cristina Gonzales) and 695 regular employees of the city government would each receive P25,000 in additional bonuses.

At least 154 casual employees would each receive P15,000 in additional bonuses while more than 1,300 employees who are on job order status will receive P5,000 each. Job order employees are those hired for specific work for at least three months.

Dy said the P29-million budget for the additional bonuses would be taken from the city government’s savings for the current year.

Dy also said the city’s more than 1,500 barangay officials, 218 barangay health workers, 122 barangay nutrition officers and 96 so-called barangay  service point officers would also receive P2,000 in bonuses each from the city government.

The city government last week released P8.9 million for the regular bonuses of city officials and employees.

The Department of Budget and Management had admitted it was helpless against local governments using their savings for bonuses of their employees because LGUs are allowed to do it under the Local Government Code.

The DBM, however, appealed to local government officials to exercise prudence in spending LGU money for bonuses, saying these funds could be put to better use on projects and delivery of basic services.

Recently, a decision by the Pampanga provincial government to grant up to P40,000 in bonuses to each of its employees became controversial when several groups questioned the move.