THE Provincial Government of Negros Occidental has allocated P90 million for the implementation of the first tranche of Salary Standardization Law 4 (SSL 4).
Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said the salary increase would be a retroactive pay for half of the year this 2016.
Marañon said the 14th month pay is already included in the appropriation, and may be ready for release starting next week.
Asked if it is final that there will be no Christmas bonus for the Capitol employees this year, Marañon replied: “Ah, waay pa. Basi pa lang, gina-compute pa. Ang increase ni, sobra pa ni sa Christmas bonus kay sige ni mo, (We don’t know yet. Maybe, we’re still computing. But this increase, it’s more than a Christmas bonus because it’s continuous).”
Provincial Budget Officer Jose Percival Salado Jr. earlier said the adoption of the first tranche of SSL 4 would be a retroactive pay, and that Capitol employees may not receive their usual P35,000 additional bonus this Christmas due to the adoption of SSL 4.
He added that the 14th month pay is considered a bonus.
Salado said the Capitol employees will receive their 14th month pay and P5,000 cash gift this month while they are expected to receive only P5,000 as Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) this December.
For his part, Second District Board Member Salvador Escalante, chairman of committee on appropriations, budget, finance, ways and means, said the governor is willing to give maximum bonus to Capitol employees if there is a budget, and a go-signal from President Rodrigo Duterte.
Escalante pointed out the province right now has budget limitations for Personnel Services after reaching the 45 percent ceiling.
“This year, we will implement the first tranche of SSL 4. We are already late in implementing the SSL4 and if we can’t implement, we cannot give the 14th month pay based on new rates,” he added. (MPE/TDE)