Salary advanced for Cebu City Hall

WHILE their P20,000 Christmas bonus has yet to be released, Cebu City Hall employees will collect in advance their salaries for the 30th, City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said yesterday.

Poblete said the advance salaries will help pay for their Christmas celebrations.

He said once the bonuses are released next week, the employees could set it aside for their New Year observance.

Mayor Michael Rama yesterday ordered the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) to work overtime in finishing their payroll for the release of the additional Christmas bonus next week.

The payroll preparation also includes the P1,000 financial assistance to each Person with Disability (PWD) to be released in each barangay today.

Poblete said the processing of the employees payroll were made through their respective department heads to hasten its completion.

He said checks with the corresponding amount of bonuses to be released to  employees of each department or City Hall office will also be issued to their office heads.

It is the department head who will encash these checks and release the cash to their employees to hasten the process. City Hall has 22 departments and offices.

“Since yesterday we started approving the vouchers.  But processing will all be dependent on the cooperation of the department heads,” he said.

But since the city would need P50 million to pay for the bonuses, Poblete said the city’s depository banks may be unable to release the full amount as needed until work resumes on Dec. 26. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac