Ben Madilynn
JOB order (JO) personnel in Cebu City are now entitled to receive a bonus after the City Council passed an ordinance granting them the perk.
The council approved their “service premium” that provides JOs bonuses every May and November of the year during its regular session on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, according to the Cebu City News and Information Facebook page.
The ordinance’s author, City Councilor Edgardo Labella II, was on official leave Wednesday.
JOs must serve at least three months and earn a “satisfactory” rating to receive the P5,000 bonus.
Those who serve less than three months will only receive P3,500, while those who serve less than two months will receive P1,500. JOs who serve less than a month will only receive P500.
However, the ordinance makes no mention if they are also entitled to receive the Charter Day and Christmas bonuses.
In a text message on Saturday, City Councilor Noel Wenceslao, chairman of the committee on budget and finance, said the budget for their bonuses will be sourced from the annual budget and the first supplemental budget.
However, he could not provide the exact amount for the bonus, saying his files containing the details were in his office.
When asked how many JOs are working in the City Government, Wenceslao also could not provide the exact number, but said they prepared bonuses for more than 5,000 JOs.
SunStar Cebu also tried to obtain details from Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, but to no avail.
It was Garcia who personally requested to expedite the approval of the ordinance through a letter dated May 13.
“By providing gratuity pay, motivation and morale can be boosted, leading to an increased focus on delivering high-quality services promptly,” he stated.
“The grant of premium pay to our hard-working job order personnel was long overdue and is about time to show them that we walk our talk in striving to do things fast, efficient and effective,” he added in a June 14 letter to Acting Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros.
Garcia had said that his goal as acting mayor of Cebu City for the next six months was to expedite public service.
During last Wednesday’s regular session, City Councilors Joy Pesquera, James Anthony Cuenco and Renato Osmeña, Jr. pushed for the ordinance’s approval on behalf of Labella.
Before the ordinance was approved, JO personnel were not always assured of getting a bonus unlike regular and casual employees. The amount also depended on the budget.
Earlier this year, the executive department was not even sure to include them in the granting of a Charter Day bonus.
After the council approved the supplemental budget last March, though, it was announced that JO personnel would receive P5,000 each in gratuity pay, a far cry from the P25,000 that each regular and casual employee would get.
Acting Mayor Garcia, in October 2023, told SunStar Cebu the City did not have an employer-employee relationship with JOs, which was why the latter were not entitled to any special perks like bonuses.
By law, he had pointed out, the City could only grant bonuses to regular and casual employees. / AML
