Dumaguete Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria said the charging of the salaries of the 451 casual plantilla employees to the lump-sum appropriation from the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses was the “best gift” he could give to them, despite it being the reason why the city cannot release the Productivity Enhancement Incentive.

He said the practice of charging the salaries of casual plantilla employees to the MOOE is in violation of existing regulations, according to the Commission on Audit, and he was surprised that this had been allowed in the past 28 years.

He added that charging the salaries to the lump-sum appropriation resulted in higher personnel services at P63 million, so it cannot give the one-time PEI grant as ordered by President Benigno Aquino III.

He said casual plantilla employees have reasons to be thankful because none of them was terminated in the process of changing the appropriation from MOOE to lump-sum, and the 45 percent personnel services limitation didn't reach the limit yet, as around P1 million still remains.

But due to the additional P63 million charged to personnel services, the city cannot anymore extend the PEI to 572 regular and 451 casual employees of Dumaguete.

Sagarbarria said in 2016, the 45 percent PS limitation is expected to increase up to P220 million, compared to this year's PS of around P201 million only. Thus, more benefits can be extended to employees next year, he added.

He said he is looking for ways to increase the daily take home pay of each of the 300 job order employees to a minimum of P310.

Although not bound by the regulations of the Department of Labor and Employment, Sagarbarria said he wants their daily pay to reach P310, which is the minimum pay for employees in the private sector.

The city has increased their pay by P30 each day, or an equivalent of almost P8,000 in one year, compared to what they were supposed to receive during Christmas of P1,500 only, Sagarbarria said.*JG

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