Holidays delay Capitol bonus

CEBU, Philippines - The two successive long weekends will further delay the release of the anniversary bonus to 1,500 Capitol officials and employees of the Province of Cebu. 

 Two weeks after Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia announced that each employee will receive bonuses up to P30,000, she has yet to submit the supplemental budget to the Provincial Board.

Even if it has been submitted, the PB cannot take it up because two successive Mondays, the day of its regular session, were declared regular holiday throughout the country.

Today was declared by President Benigno Aquino III as a regular holiday to mark the end of Ramadan (Eid’l Fitr) to give our Muslim brothers and sisters a chance to observe their faith.

Tomorrow is Ninoy Aquino Day and is a non-working holiday to commemorate the anniversary of the 1983 assassination of the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr., the president’s father.

Next Monday, August 27, is also a regular holiday in celebration of the National Heroes’ Day, which observed during the last Monday of August.

With this, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale said that she will call for a special session anytime as long as the supplemental budget is submitted to the PB.

Provincial Budget Officer Emme Gingoyon said P23.6 million was set aside in the supplemental budget for the bonuses.

During the 443rd founding anniversary of the Province of Cebu last August 6, Garcia announced that each of the employees will get P15,000 representing the Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) incentives.

 Employees with satisfactory rating will also get additional P10,000 bonus while those with very satisfactory rating will get P15,000.

Garcia instructed the performance evaluation team to go over the ratings of each employee based on criteria of 50 percent quantity and 50 percent quality of output. — (FREEMAN)