Dumaguete Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria has assured that the “best gift” he can offer to the 451 casual plantilla employees of the City government is for the charging of their salaries and wages to the lump sum appropriation, and not to the Maintenance & Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) which the Commission on Audit said is a violation of existing regulations.
As a result, the Cty’s Personnel Services budget was P63 million higher, according to Mayor Sagarbarria, who was bombarded with queries on why the City government cannot give the one-time grant of the Productivity Enhancement Incentiv as ordered by President Aquino.
Sagarbarria said COA is correct in its comment, but added that he is surprised to know why this was allowed in the past 28 years where salaries and wages of casual plantilla workers were then charged against the MOOE.
He said casual plantilla employees have reasons to be thankful about because none of them was terminated in the process of changing the appropriation from MOOE to lump sum.
The expenditure for Personnel Services has not reached the cap of 45 percent, and in fact, has a balance of more than P1 million.
Due to the additional P63 million charged to Personnel Services, it cannot anymore extend the PEI to 572 regular and 451 casual employees of Dumaguete.
By 2016, the 45 percent PS limitation is expected to increase up to P220 million, compared to this year’s PS of more than P201 million only.
Thus, more benefits can be extended to employees next year, the Mayor assured.
Sagarbarria said he is also looking for ways and means to increase upto at least P310 the daily take home pay of Job Order employees, numbering about 300 in Dumaguete.
Although not bound by the regulations of the Department of Labor and Employment, Sagarbarria said he wants the Job Order daily pay to reach about P310, the minimum for private sector employees.
The City had also increased their pay by P30 per day, or an equivalent of almost P8,000 in one year, compared to the P1,500 they were only supposed to receive at Christmas, Sagarbarria disclosed. (PNA/LAP/JFP/JG)
