• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental has unanimously approved on Tuesday the P85 million worth of benefits and incentives for regular, casual, contract of service (COS), and job order (JO) employees of the provincial government, who are expected to receive it before Christmas Day.
Provincial Administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz II disclosed on Wednesday that regular and casual employees will receive P20,000 each for service recognition incentive (SRI) and P7,000 gratuity pay is for COS and JO employees.
Of the approved P85 million budget, Diaz said P60 million has been allocated for SRI, P20 million for gratuity pay and P5M for the Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Care Program (NOCHP).
He explained that the P5M payment to NOCHP is for the year-end executive health checkup of all JO and COS workers, since they are not covered by the health insurance of regular government employees.
Last week, the provincial government also released the P30,000 collective negotiation agreement (CNA) bonus to regular and casual employees of the Capitol.
Diaz also ordered the Information and Communications Technology Division (ICTD) to activate the payroll system for the release of the gratuity pay and SRI to Capitol workers.
As to the release of the productivity enhancement incentive (PEI), he said that they are still awaiting the guidelines from the national government.
The standard PEI for government employees is generally P5,000.*
