Incentives of up to one month salary set for gov’t workers by June

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte. FILE PHOTO

Good news for government employees: President Benigno Aquino III on Friday signed an executive order granting productivity enhancement incentive of either P5,000 or one month basic salary to government workers.

Executive Order (EO) No. 181 now grants an incentive equivalent to one month salary as of May 31 to qualified government personnel who exceeded financial and operational targets.

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Among the personnel covered under the new executive order are civilian and military personnel working in national government agencies, Congress, judiciary, Civil Service Commission, Office of the Ombudsman, government-owned or -controlled corporations including local water districts and financial institutions, and local government units.

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In an interview with DZRB, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said agencies must comply first with certain requirements before employees can enjoy the one-time grant of one-month basic salary as incentive.

Under Section 4 of EO 181, these requirements are: Achievement of at least 90 percent of the fiscal year 2014 targets under at least two performance indicators (quantity, quality, or timeliness) for at least one major final output under operations, posting of the transparency seal, and posting or publication of the citizen’s charter.

Local government units are required to comply with the requirements under the Good Financial Housekeeping of the Seal of Good Local Governance, while local water districts must record a positive net balance in the average net income for 12 months of operations prior to May 31.

“The submission of requirements has been ongoing since last year because it’s part of our performance-based incentive system. That’s why government agencies should have been doing this way before because if you look at it, we are looking at 2014 targets here,” Valte said.

Concerned agencies including the Department of Budget and Management are tasked to monitor compliance with the requirements.

Valte also clarified that only those employees who have been working in the government for at least four months prior to May 31 are qualified for the incentive, adding that there are exclusions under the new EO.

Excluded from the new order are government-hired individuals without the employer-employee relationship, including consultants and experts, laborers hired through contracts, and student laborers or apprentices.

The productivity enhancement incentives will be released no earlier than June 1, Valte said.

“Yes, not earlier than June 1, meaning June 1 onwards, incentives can be handed out, because the agencies concerned already need to validate the compliance with the targets,” she said. IDL