Capitol regular employees to receive 4 year-end bonuses

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Over 2,000 employees of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol will receive four year-end bonuses starting this week, according to the Association of Iloilo Provincial Government Employees (AIPGE).

AIPGE President Ma. Airis Sobrevega Penetrante said that regular employees of the Capitol will receive Collective Negotiation Agreement Incentives (CNAI), Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI), a one-time Service Recognition Incentive (SRI), and Performance-Based Bonus (PBB).

“Since [the grant of our] CNAI is based on the savings of our local government, tentatively we will be receiving P18,000 for the CNAI alone,” said Penetrante, who is also a Population Program Officer II of the Provincial Population Office.

The CNAI this year is lower than last year’s P25,000.

Regular employees will receive P20,000, for SRI, P5,000 for the PEI, and 50% of the employee’s monthly salary for the PBB. The CNAI, SRI, and PBB are taxable.

Penetrante mentioned that they have already relayed the information for the disbursement of the CNAI and SRI.

She added that Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. had approved an executive order authorizing the release of the year-end bonuses and an advisory on the payrolls and vouchers of the CNAI and SRI.

“These two incentives (CNAI and SRI) that our employees will receive, we have already issued information to the offices so they can already start preparing their payrolls today since it still needs signatory from the AIPGE,” she said.

Penetrante said that they requested the Local Finance Committee during a meeting last week to release the bonuses before Christmas.

“They have assured that they will have a fast lane for that so it can be prioritized,” she said.

Regarding employees in the 13 province-run hospitals, only four are under the general fund of the Capitol, while the nine others belong to the local economic enterprise.

“The four hospitals will be receiving the same amount that we are receiving but the rest, the amount would depend on their savings because they are under the local economic enterprise and that is our problem,” she explained.

Penetrante, however, mentioned that during the executive meeting of the board of directors of AIPGE, there were several requests to also allot a budget for their incentives though the campaign is still uncertain.

For Contract of Service and Job Order employees, Administrative Order No. 13 signed by the president provided the grant of a one-time gratuity pay of not more than P5,000.

To qualify for the gratuity pay, employees must have already rendered at least four months of “actual satisfactory performance of service,” according to the administrative order.