Gov’t bonuses due for release in mid-November

THE GOVERNMENT will begin to release the year-end bonus of its employees as well as their cash gifts next week, the Budget chief said.

“Starting Nov. 15, all qualified government employees will receive year-end bonuses tax-free that is equivalent to their one month basic salary,” Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said in a news conference yesterday in Mandaluyong.

However, as Nov. 15 falls on a non-working day due to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) Summit and Related Meetings, the bonuses are expected to be released on the 16th.

The 2017 General Appropriations Act has allocated P32.8 billion for the year-end bonuses, and P6.9 billion for the P5,000 cash gifts.

Executive Order No. 201, issued by the previous government, provides for the year-end bonus and cash gifts given each November.

The order covers all positions for civilian personnel whether regular, contractual, or casual in nature, appointive or elective, full-time or part-time, now existing or hereafter created in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches, the Constitutional Commissions and other Constitutional Offices, state universities and colleges, and government corporations covered by the Compensation and Position Classification System (CPCS).

It also includes all personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the Department of National Defense and uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police, Philippine Public Safety College, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology of the Department of the Interior and Local Government; Philippine Coast Guard of the Department of Transportation and Communications; and National Mapping and Resource Information Authority of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Those eligible to receive the bonuses are government personnel who have rendered at least four months of service from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31 of the current year, and personnel who remained in the government service as of Oct. 31 of the same year, according to the Budget department’s implementing rules and regulations.

Those excluded on the other hand are government corporations exempted from the CPCS, government corporations under the Governance Commission on Government- Owned and -Controlled Corporations, those hired without employer- employee relationships and funded from non- Personnel Services appropriations or budgets. —