The Department of Budget of Management (DBM) has reminded the public, particularly the government sector, not to be misled by a 2011 news article which has been spread widely online claiming that that government employees will receive an additional P10,000 holiday bonus this year.
In an advisory released on Thursday, DBM said that government employees will not be expecting any other holiday bonus for 2015 as it was already released this month.
“There is no more additional holiday bonus that is due to be released to government workers by December 15. Please be informed that government employees have received the last half of their year-end bonus/13th month pay and cash gift in the amount of P5,000 by the middle of this month pursuant to DBM Circular 2015-1, which provides that the remaining half of the yearend bonus and the cash gift for 2015 shall be released not earlier than Nov. 15,” the advisory from the budget department read.
DBM issued the advisory following the spread of a 2011 Philippine Daily Inquirer article titled “P10,000 more for government workers” on social media in recent weeks. The said article was about the grant of the P10,000 productivity enhancement incentive (PEI) in 2011.
“We have seen this article being shared in social media for the past several weeks. Some people did not notice that this article is four years old and may have been led to believe that there is an additional P10,000 holiday bonus to be had,” it read.
The same Inquirer article was rehashed in a blog which changed the date of the article to Nov. 5, 2015 to make it look as if it was released this year.
“We take exception to this calculated spreading of misinformation,” the budget department said.
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