Government employees would be receiving their Christmas bonus (one month salary plus P5,000 cash gift) starting this week, Rep. Mike Defensor of party-list Angkalusugan said.
Defensor, chairman of the House of Representatives’ public accounts committee, said the Christmas bonus is based on Salary Standardization 5 (Republic Act 11466), which mandated that such yearend bonus will be given every November.
“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,” he said, noting that this mandate is stated in National Budget Circular 579, which the Department of Budget and Management released in January this year.
The solon said that agencies could start giving the bonus on November 15 if funds are already available.
“And since this week’s payday falls on Sunday, the bonus could be advanced as early as Thursday for personnel on a four-day workweek, or Friday for those on the usual five-day work schedule, or on Monday,” Defensor said.
He added that those who intend shopping after receiving their Christmas bonus should do it early to avoid the Christmas rush and traffic jams in December.
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Gov’t employees to receive Christmas bonus this week
Defensor also urged the private companies to release their employees’ 13th-month pay or yearend bonus early, adding it would be a “gesture of compassion.”
“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 added.
Meanwhile, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) released stricter guidelines on work from home (WFH) and other alternative work arrangements (AWAs) for government employees.
“Agencies under WFH arrangement may adopt performance standards to guide employees in the delivery of assigned tasks, like a point system where each output is assigned points based on length of time, complexity or other criterion which are aligned with the CSC-approved agency SPMS (Strategic Performance Management System),” the CSC’s new memorandum read.