Gov’t employees’ bonuses now in annual budget, says Escudero

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. EDWIN BACASMAS

MANILA, Philippines—All  bonuses,  including  the  mandated  13^th month pay, of  government   workers  will now be reflected in the proposed P2.26 trillion national budget for 2014, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said on  Thursday.

Escudero,  chairman of Senate committee on finance, revealed  that  next year’s proposed  budget  has  indicated  the bonuses that  state employees would get.

“The additional  bonus  and the 13^th month pay are already  reflected in the  budget per agency. It’s already in the  budget of each agency,” he said during a weekly forum  at the Senate.

Asked  if the agencies’  savings could  still be  converted into  bonuses  of the employees,  Escudero said,  “Not anymore. That’s prohibited.”

He said the allocation intended for the hiring of  non-uniformed police personnel for example  could  no longer be used as savings under a line item budget,  which would now be used  for next year’s proposed appropriations.

“Because it’s a line item and there will be performance  indicators,   the budget  for  instance  for the  hiring of 7,000 non-uniformed personnel  of the PNP will now become  an indicator.  If they did not hire and instead used the budget   as savings, that will affect the  performance  of the agency,” he said.