Big bonuses await productive gov’t workers

2013 NAT’L BUDGET

STATE EMPLOYEES and officials will be among those who will benefit from the biggest national budget ever proposed by a sitting president to Congress.

The General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2013, which will be transmitted to Congress a day after the state of the nation address (Sona) of President Aquino on July 23, allots some P9 billion to P10 billion for the performance-based incentives of the one millionstrong bureaucracy.

Malacañang hopes the performance-based incentive system will strengthen accountability and encourage productivity in state agencies.

In a press conference, Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said the Aquino administration was working to “harmonize all performance management systems in government and to deepen performance-based budgeting.”

The performance scheme will reward agencies and public servants who meet and even surpass their performance targets.

If approved, the first wave of performance bonuses will be granted in early 2013, with amounts ranging from P15,000 to P35,000, depending on an employee’s productivity.

The performance bonuses will be on top of their existing productivity enhancement incentive bonuses which are sourced from the savings of individual agencies.

Abad said the incentive and bonus systems of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) will also be streamlined due to abuses in the past.

According to the budget chief, the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) are in the process of preparing an incentive system for GOCC employees, which will be separate from the performance-based system of national government agencies.

He noted that President Aquino had cited the situation at the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Administration, the Local and Water Utilities Administration, among other agencies, “where they really abused the use of government funds to grant themselves so many allowances and bonuses that actually had no legal basis.”

Abad said the GCG was now reviewing these allowances, and limiting them to what was authorized under an existing executive order.

The proposed P2-trillion national budget for 2013 is 10.5 percent higher than the P1.816-trillion budget for the current fiscal year.