Stricter rules on overtime sought

CEBU, Philippines - To prevent abuse and to prevent the city from wasting money, at least three Cebu City councilors want stricter rules for overtime work for city employees.

"We would like to discourage overtime but we may grant overtime for specific persons and departments. Maybe it would be practical to determine what these programs or projects are and who are entitled to have overtime," said Councilor Margot Osmeña.

The issue was raised during yesterday's hearing of the city's budget for 2014 in which P11 million is appropriated for overtime work.

Councilor Eugeno Gabuya said he has learned that there are employees who postpone their work intentionally beyond office hours to get overtime pay.

Councilor Alvin Dizon himself said he is not in favor of granting overtime pay.

"Dili ko kumbinsido nga mohatag og overtime pay kay we are public servants and we serve for the betterment of the people. And this overtime might be subject for abuse and the like," Dizon said.

To prevent possible abuse, Dizon said stricter rules must be in place, something that Osmeña agrees to. Clear cut rules are also necessary to maintain fairness, especially in cases when city employees need to work beyond the regular hours, as approved by their department heads.

"Being a public servant we should be considerate enough especially to people who dedicate their time to serve until midnight in several instances like the City treasurer's office, City abattoir and drivers of the government officials...they have also a family like us and ni sacrifice sila," Osmeña said.

City Administrator Atty. Jose Marie Poblete told the councilors that they must trust the capability of the department heads in determining and scrutinizing the validity of overtime work.

City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas explained that the overtime pay depends on the salary of the employee. For example, if a casual employee can accumulate 60 hours of overtime work in a month, he or she will receive up to P3,000. Meanwhile, an office supervisor may receive up to P10,000 for 50 hours of overtime work.

Cuevas said the existing rule is that an overtime pay must not exceed 25 percent of an employee's annual basic salary. On weekdays, an employee is allowed to work overtime from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and receives payment equivalent to 25 percent of his salary. On weekends, an employee may work overtime from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and will receive payment equivalent to 30 percent of the salary and 100 percent if he is made to work during official holidays.

The city administrator then signs the payment.

Bonus

In a separate development, Poblete said the executive department has already directed the city treasurer's office to look for funding for the 13th month pay of the employees.

Last year, city hall employees received a P12,000 bonus each.

The city is expected to collect close to P1 billion next month - P400M from Filinvest Land Inc.,  P40M from a Japanese retirement facility, P7M from Bigfoot, and P50M from auctioned properties. The city also expects to collect P500 million from Filinvest next year.

"We hope ma-collect ni (payables) because we don't want to deprive everyone of the bonus if we have the money, however we have to depend on what we have," Osmeña said. — (FREEMAN)