Gov’t employees offered attractive early retirement incentive

Malacañang is encouraging government employees to avail themselves of the early retirement package of President Arroyo to downsize the bureaucracy.

Speaking on state-run Radyo ng Bayan yesterday, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said government employees who go on early retirement will be handed their retirement pay on the last day of their employment.

"And what is also very important to know that in case any employee would avail (himself) of the separation and retirement benefits on the last day of their employment, they would get their check," he said.

Bunye said employees of government agencies affected by the streamlining, who choose to remain in the service, would be placed in a manpower pool of the Civil Service Commission.

"The important thing that our co-workers in government must recognize is, first of all, nobody will be displaced, and those who would avail of the retirement packages would be given by the government on purely voluntary basis," he said.

Bunye said the government has started implementing the early retirement program at the Sugar Regulatory Administration through Executive Order 339 issued by Mrs. Arroyo last June 29.

"The re-engineering of the government was mentioned by our President during her State of the Nation Address," he said.

"So this is one of the basic rules that would be implemented to remove the apprehension of our co-workers in the government that they might be affected by this re-engineering," he said.

Bunye said excess personnel will be removed from government agencies where there are redundant positions and overlapping of functions.

"The alternative here for employees affected is they would be placed in a manpower pool that is supervised by the Civil Service Commission," he said.

"They will be available for reassignment to other agencies where their services would be needed."

Budget and Management Secretary Emilia Boncodin had explained the mechanics of the early retirement program during a meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council in Malacañang last week, he added.

Boncodin said an initial P15 billion has been allocated in this year’s national budget for the early retirement of redundant government employees.

However, there have been not much takers, she added.

In her State of the Nation Address, Mrs. Arroyo said public school teachers comprise half of the 1.2 million government employees to be offered early retirement.

The other half is made up of 300,000 uniformed personnel from the police and military, and 300,000 from the civilian bureaucracy, she added. –Marichu Villanueva