The more than 1.5 million workers in the government will receive their Christmas bonuses this month, most likely starting this week, a congressional leader said Monday.
At the same time, Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor, chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on public accounts, urged private-sector employers to release the 13th-month pay or yearend bonus of their employees early.
Citing Section 8 of Republic Act 11466 or Salary Standardization Law 5, Defensor said the year-end bonus equivalent to one-month salary, plus a P5,000 cash gift, “shall be given in November of every year.”
He said the mandate of the law was restated in National Budget Circular 579, which Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado issued in January this year.
“I am assuming that the budget secretary has released the funds needed for the payment of the government workers’ Christmas bonus and P5,000 cash gift,” Defensor said.
He said if the funds were already available, agencies could begin giving the bonus on Nov. 15.
“And since this week’s payday falls on Sunday, the bonus could be advanced as early as Thursday for personnel on a four-day work week, or Friday for those on the usual five-day work schedule, or on Monday,” he said.
Defensor noted that last year, most agencies released the Christmas bonus in mid-November.
He said if government employees intended to do shopping after receiving their yearend incentives, they should do it early to avoid the usual Christmas rush and the attendant traffic jams next month.
Meanwhile, Defensor appealed to private-sector employers to release the 13th-month pay or yearend bonus of their employees early.
He said paying the bonus ahead of the Dec. 25 schedule would be a “gesture of compassion” on the part of employers.
“That will surely ease the financial burden our workers and our people have to face every day because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic difficulties. Many of them are forced to resort to borrowing money just to make both ends meet,” he said.
He said private-sector employees could also do early shopping to escape the Christmas chaos.
RA 11466, signed by President Duterte on Jan. 8 this year, contains the newest four-year salary upgrading program in the bureaucracy. Avisado’s Budget Circular 579 implements the program.
Under the law, the lowest-paid worker gets an adjusted monthly salary of P11,551 up to P12,244, depending on length of service, this year.
The pay increases to P13,00-P13,780 on the fourth year (2023).
On the other hand, the highest-paid official, the President, receives P407,734 this year. His salary goes up to P431,718 in 2023.
The law applies not only to national government agencies but to state corporations and local government units as well.
However, it does not apply to Duterte and incumbent members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Constitution prohibits them from being beneficiaries of their official acts.