How much will the Capitol bonus be?

NOT less than P15,000.

This was the ballpark figure given by OIC provincial treasurer Emmanuel Guial on the amount each of the provincial government’s employees would probably receive as bonus to mark Cebu’s 444th founding anniversary.

“I don’t know how much. That’s top secret because it is up to the governor. But if I am not mistaken, based on history, we’ve never gone down P15 thousand,” he said.

Guial said the bonus will depend on the availability of funds.

He said the Capitol may resort to borrowing money to fund the bonus, but he quickly ruled out that option as the Davide administration is “exercising prudence” in spending Capitol money.

“If its already part of the budget then that will be faster but if we will need a supplementary budget for that, it will take a bit longer,” he said.

Under the administration of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia, employees received a P15,000 bonus, a fixture during the province’s annual celebration of its founding anniversary.

The Provincial Board (PB) yesterday afternoon called for a special session to take up the resolution authorizing Guial to sign checks in behalf of the province.

The resolution sponsored by PB member Peter John Calderon was unanimously approved.

Guial assumed as the province’s acting treasurer after Yolanda Cabando’s 30-day appointment from the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) expired last week. But BLGF still has not officially named Guial as the Capitol’s treasury head./Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos