P46M for bonuses approved

CEBU, Philippines -The City Council yesterday gave a nod for the city to spend P46 million to grant P10,000 additional cash gifts to each of the 4,610 employees of the city government.

The city legislators headed by Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young were convinced to approve the proposal of Mayor Michael Rama to grant additional cash gifts after Acting City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo certified that the city has P53,252,604 surplus in the personal services budget.

City Budget Officer Nelfa Briones even said that the amount of surplus budget is expected to increase once the various departments of City Hall will submit their reports.

Briones explained that of the P53.2 million surplus budget from the personal services, the P39,402,604 of it came from the General Fund while P13,850,000 is from the special accounts.Camarillo was instructed by the City Council to release the benefits to the employees before Christmas.

The mayor was happy when he learned that the appropriations ordinance was quickly acted upon by the City Council. It was done within 24 hours after he ordered his staff to make sure that the ordinance would be included in yesterday’s regular session.

President Benigno Simeon Aquino III issued a memorandum circular that authorized the granting of P10,000 productivity enhancement incentive to each government employee on top of their Christmas bonus and 13th month pay. — (FREEMAN)