CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama wants to increase the Christmas bonuses of job order (JO) employees at City Hall from P3,000 to P6,000.
But Rama said he still needs to find out if increasing the bonuses for their JO workers is legal.
If approved, it could benefit the city’s 4,700 JO workers currently working in different departments and units at City Hall.
Rama told reporters that he has already ordered City Administrator Suzzane Ardosa to check the legality of giving the cash gifts after they were able to secure a budget for the allocation.
Rama said he wants to check if there is a law that prohibits the City from giving more than the yearly P3,000 Christmas bonus they give to JO workers. If the law doesn’t prohibit it, Rama will give the JO employees twice what they are getting yearly.
In a separate interview, Cebu City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, who chairs the committee on budget and finance in the City Council, suggested to Rama to instead provide the JO workers two sacks of rice and the P3,000 cash gift if the law prohibits them from adding another P3,000 to the JO employees’ cash gifts.
Garcia said the City can acquire the sacks of rice for the JO workers once the second supplemental budget is approved in the City Council.
Garcia explained that the P3,000 cash gift will eventually be released as a budget for it was already appropriated in this year’s annual budget.
But Garcia said they decided to apply for a second supplemental budget as the appropriated budget for cash gifts was only good for 3,000 JO workers.
The City had to hire an additional 1,700 JO workers who were tasked to man the city’s vaccination centers, isolation facilities, contact tracing units, among others.
Aside from the JO workers, Cebu City Hall’s regular and casual employees will also receive P20,000 in Christmas bonuses.
However, Rama said the employees can only get their bonuses if all are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Rama said for City Hall employees who refused to get vaccinated for medical reasons, he is requiring them to secure a medical certificate signed by a physician working for a public hospital. (PAC / JKV)