The Makati City government said it would release the Christmas bonuses of 8,000 city hall employees amounting to P343. 7 million.
Acting Mayor Romulo Peña Jr. said the early release of the yearend bonuses aimed to give employees ample time to do their shopping for the holidays early and avoid the rush.
“It would be more convenient and also economical for the employees as they can still avail themselves of great discounts and bargain sales at this time,” he said in a statement.
Peña said city government employees can look forward to just compensation for their services as well as more incentives, including non-monetary benefits such as universal health insurance package.
Year-end bonuses received by Makati employees each year include the 13th month pay, fringe benefit which is almost equivalent to a month’s salary, cash gift of P5,000, and P6,000 as incentive allowance.
Human Resource Development Office records showed that the lowest ranking casual employees with Salary Grade 1 will receive P27,942.84 each, while the lowest ranking regular employees will receive P24,300 each.
Regular employees earlier received half of their 13th month pay last May in time for the enrolment period.
The total year-end bonuses of city employees of Makati this year amounts to P343,725,836.17 broken down as follows: 13th month, P134.5 million; 14th/fringe benefit, P127.7 million; cash gift, P39.7 million; and incentive, P41.6 million.
Last October, the city employees received their Performance Enhancement Incentive bonus, equivalent to a month’s salary, after the City Council finally gave in to Peña’s appeals and approved the corresponding appropriation.
Meanwhile, Pena appealed to members of the City Council to approve his pending proposal to increase the allowances of senior citizens given every June and December.
“The city government has enough resources to implement the increase. It would be a fitting Christmas present to our elderly residents if my proposal were approved before the year ends,” he said.