DILG Exec Sees No Problem with Cebu City’s Proposed Php 206-M Supplemental Budget 2

An official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Cebu City said there is no problem with the proposed Php 206-million second supplemental budget (SB2) the city’s executive department submitted to the City Council.

Lawyer Danilo Almendras, DILG-Cebu City chief, said there was no limit for the passage of supplemental budgets for local government units (LGUs).

SB2 will include the Php 30,000 incentives for the city’s workers.

Almendras said the city may pass a supplemental budget if there is an identified revenue receipt.

The supplemental budget is unlike the annual budget which is passed before the year begins and only identifies potential sources of funding, he said.

Earlier, the city’s Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence committee has passed a resolution recommending a Php 30,000 incentive to all workers in the city.

Lawyer Mary Ann Suson, the city’s Human Resource and Development Office chief, said an estimated 4,800 employees will receive the Php 30,000 if approved.

Cebu City Administrator Lucelle Mercado said more than Php 127 million would be set aside to pay for the incentives.

Mercado said Mayor Michael Rama wanted to give a cash incentive to employees because the city was awarded the third most competitive city out of the 142 highly-urbanized cities in the country by the National Competitiveness Council in Manila last July.

The city jumped four places from the seventh place last year.

Mercado said the Php 30,000 cash incentive is different from the productivity enhancement incentive (PEI) equivalent to a one-month salary that is supposed to be given to employees but the first supplemental budget (SB1) of Php 2.8 billion containing it remained pending before the City Council. (PNA) RMA/EB