Government workers to get Christmas bonus by Nov. 15 - DBM

MANILA, Philippines – Government workers will receive the remaining half of their 13th month pay and P5,000 cash gift beginning Nov. 15, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.

Pursuant to Budget Circular 2010-01, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P12.8 billion to fund the balance of benefits. The first half of the 13th month pay had been disbursed last May.

State workers will also get more than half of their 13th month pay because of basic salary adjustments under the Salary Standardization Law III. The DBM will release an additional P2.1 billion to fund the adjustment. The 13-month pay is equivalent to one-month salary while the P5,000 cash gift applies across the board.

All government employees with the exemption of consultants and job-order workers will receive the 13th month pay and the cash gift.

Abad said employees of local government units and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) are also entitled to these benefits but the bonuses will have to be funded by the agencies.

He said GOCCs are now expected to be “more prudent” in giving Christmas bonuses to their employees after several GOCC executives recently came under fire for supposedly receiving excessive bonuses and allowances, resulting in the suspension of their benefits. “While their benefits are suspended, we’re just talking to their counterparts in the private sector to find out what is reasonable in terms of pay scale because the benchmark is the private sector, the comparative private sector pay,” Abad said.

Like any government worker, President Aquino will also receive a bonus. Mr. Aquino’s gross pay is P95,000, but his take home pay is P63,000.

Before, the cash gift for state workers was P10,000 but Abad is not sure if it can still be given.

“In the past it was, I think, P10,000. I don’t know if it is at all going to be given, I don’t know if it’s going to be at the same level,” he said.

The DBM is studying if the year-end fiscal position of the government will allow the provision of an additional holiday bonus in the form of Productivity Enhancement Incentive. The government hopes to contain the budget gap at P325 billion this year or 3.9 percent of gross domestic product. – With Iris Gonzales