Around 1,700 qualified employees of the Capitol will be getting up to P40,000 each in bonuses and incentives in time for the Christmas season.

According to provincial budget officer Peter Retutal, regular, plantilla casual workers and elected officials of the provincial government will be covered by the dole out of incentives which are comprised of three separate sources.

The qualified recipients will get P25,000 through the Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA), P10,000 through the Service Recognition Incentive (SRI) and the previously approved Productivity Enhancement Incentive amounting to P5,000.

“Not earlier than December 15 ang CNA ug PEI, unya not earlier than December 20 ang SRI,” said Retutal.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) passed during its regular session on Tuesday a P61-million supplemental budget to cover the SRI and CNA. The PEI on the other hand was previously included in the 2019 budget.

The recent approval came after Governor Arthur Yap earlier called on the Capitol’s finance team to seek sources to fund the incentives.  

Based on Administrative Order (AO) 19, signed by President Duterte earlier this month, local government units through their respective local legislative bodies or sanggunian will determine the amount of the one-time SRI depending on their financial capacity in accordance with the personal service limitation in LGU budgets under RA No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.

The AO also stipulates that all employees under an LGU will get a uniform SRI amount not beyond P10,000.

Meanwhile, job order and casual employees will not be covered by the distribution of incentives.

“Karon klaro naman gud kaayo ang mga guidelines na dili na g’yud, na no employer-employee relationship na,” said Retutal.

They however have started to get P5,000 in deferential pay after the SP last month approved a P20 wage hike for casual and job order employees which was retroactively applied, covering all months starting January this year.

The salary increase was approved through a recommendation made by Yap to the SP through Resolution No. 03-2019 filed by the Capitol’s finance committee and submitted to the legislative body.

The resolution stated that the wage hike was needed amid the increasing prices of basic commodities and to “boost the morale” of the provincial workforce. (R. Tutas)