SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines – It was a storm of Yuletide bonuses that swept through the provincial capitol here this week.
After distributing P40,000 incentive bonus to each of 2,051 regular and casual employees of the provincial government, Gov. Lilia Pineda also handed out last Friday P3,000 cash plus dressed chicken to each of 436 “job order” personnel who were not qualified for the huge bonus.
Provincial information officer Joel Mapiles said the fresh bonuses totaled P1.3 million.
Pineda distributed the bonuses to the job order employees during a party at the Bren Guiao Convention Center here.
For the party alone, some P150,000 was allocated for raffle prizes although it was not clear whether the funds came from the provincial government or the governor herself.
While regular and casual workers already got their P40,000 bonus each earlier, they again each received from Pineda two pieces of dressed chicken.
“What you received this Christmas belong to you,” Pineda told the provincial employees during the party.
In return, the employees sang for her a Kapampangan song and offered her flowers.
The governor also distributed cash prizes ranging from P5,000 to P50,000 to winners of cultural and other competitions during the party.
Pineda said the funds for the bonuses came from the savings of the various departments of the provincial government.
The regular and casual employees said their P40,000 bonus was the biggest in the history of the provincial government.
Some said the amount enabled them to pay debts, while still retaining enough for their holiday expenses. Many were reported to have bought expensive cell phones with their bonuses.
The granting of the bonuses was in line with President Aquino’s Administrative Order No. 3, which allows such benefits to be granted by provincial governments based on their financial capabilities.