P12K Charter bonus for Cebu City Hall

CEBU City Hall employees will receive P12,000 or more than the P7,000 promised by Mayor Michael Rama as their City Charter Day bonus.
The city’s Praise Committee, which oversees the release of employee incentives, recommended a P12,000 bonus which the City Council approved in a special session held yesterday afternoon.
But Councilor Ronald Cuenco wanted the employees bonus released in cash and not through their respective ATM accounts “to make sure the money will be received by the employees and will not go to the loan sharks.”
“The (actual) release of the bonus will depend on how fast we can process the payroll after the passage of the ordinance.  Maybe a maximum of four to five days,” acting City Treasurer Emma Villarete said.
During yesterday’s City Council session, City Administator Jose Marie Poblete said the P12,000 consists of the P7,000 Charter Day bonus and the P5,000 represents the balance of the P15,000 additional Christmas bonus the council approved last year.
The P7,000 Charter Day bonus for City Hall officials and employees was included in the P37 million Supplemental Budget (SB) 1 that Rama submitted to the council last week.
The supplemental budget was raised to P59.14 million to accommodate the P12,000 bonus to the employees and officials.
“We can always release more (as Charter Day bonus) but anything that we release will be considered as Personnel Services (PS).  If we release everything now (we might exceed the PS limitation) and starve in December,” he said. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac