DBM to release cash incentives for 1.8-M gov’t employees starting Friday
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Over 1.8 million government employees would receive cash incentives starting Friday after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. authorized the grant of the Service Recognition Incentive (SRI).
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, in a statement on Friday, explained that the SRI is in recognition of the hard work of state workers who contribute to the administration’s efforts, in line with the Philippine Development Plan and the Eight-Point Socioeconomic Agenda.
“This is in recognition of the tireless dedication of our public servants. This is one way of making them feel that the government acknowledges their good work and efficient performance. On behalf of the DBM, I commend President BBM for approving Administrative Order (AO) No. 12 authorizing the grant of the Service Recognition Incentive—which has been implemented since 2019—to government employees for fiscal year 2023,” Pangandaman said.
“As the Order notes, the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. ‘recognizes all government employees for their collective and invaluable contribution to the government’s continuing efforts in pursuing the objectives, commitments, targets, and deliverables under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 and the President’s 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda,” she added.
According to AO No. 12, each qualified worker would get a uniform rate not exceeding P20,000 for the following:
Executive Branch:
- Civilian personnel in national government agencies (NGAs), including those in state universities and colleges (SUCs), and government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) occupying regular, contractual or casual positions
- Military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the Department of National Defense, and uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Bureau of Corrections under the Department of Justice, the Philippine Coast Guard under the Department of Transportation, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
- Legislative and Judicial Departments and other offices vested with fiscal autonomy, local water districts, and in agencies exempted from the coverage of RA No. 6758.
- For local government units (LGUs), depending on the respective Sanggunian, depending on the LGU’s financial capability, subject to the PS limitation in LGU budgets under RA No. 7160.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) also emphasized that the civilian personnel who would receive the SRI should be:
- Occupying regular, contractual, or casual positions
- Still in the government service as of 30 November 2023
- Have rendered at least a total or an aggregate of four (4) months of satisfactory service as of 30 November 2023, inclusive of services rendered under any of the alternative work arrangements prescribed by the Civil Service Commission
- Have rendered less than a total or an aggregate of four (4) months of satisfactory service as of 30 November 2023 shall be entitled to a pro-rated SRI
- Have not received any additional year-end benefit in FY 2023 over and above the benefit authorized under Republic Act (RA) No. 6686, as amended by RA No. 8441.
Meanwhile, DBM said that workers who are engaged without an “employer-employee relationship and whose compensation is funded from non-Personnel Services (PS) appropriations/budgets, such as consultants and experts engaged for a limited period to perform specific activities or services with expected outputs” are not entitled to the SRI.
Similarly, excluded from the SRI provision are:
- Laborers engaged through job contracts (pakyaw)
- Those paid on a piecework basis
- Student workers and apprentices
- Individuals and groups of people whose services are engaged through job orders, contracts of service, or other similarly situated.
With job orders (JO) or contract of service (COS) workers, DBM said Marcos signed another order — Administrative Order No. 13 — to grant a one-time Gratuity Pay not exceeding P5,000 in recognition of “their hard work and valuable participation in the implementation of various programs, activities, and projects in the government”.
