Government releases P590-M Christmas bonus for cops

Better late than never.

The government has released the P590-million Christmas bonus for 118,000 members of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Each officer will receive P5,000.

However, the bonus will actually be received at least two days after Christmas Day, on Dec. 27.

Chief Superintendent Servando Hizon said PNP finance personnel will still have to prepare checks for all of the police officers.

If a PNP officer manages to get his check on Dec. 24, he has to wait for Dec. 27 to convert it to cash since Dec. 24, 25, and 26 have been declared by President Arroyo as holidays.

Interviewed by The STAR, a policeman with a rank of Senior Police Officer 2 (SPO2) could not hide his disappointment after learning that their P5,000 will be available only after Christmas.

"Pandagdag sana sa handa sa Pasko pero wala na nga kaming magagawa kung pagkatapos pa ng Pasko. Pang Bagong Taon na lang namin," he said.

Another policeman with a rank of Superintendent said he was happy that he and other policemen will receive P5,000 unlike last year when the Department of Budget and Management excluded the PNP in the Christmas bonus allocation.

"Last year kasi, inunahan ng PNP ang DBM by releasing P2,600 so when the government allocated Christmas bonuses for government employees, they excluded policemen," he explained.