Dagupan offers cash prizes to villages with zero ‘cracker incidents

By Hilda Austria

DAGUPAN CITY – The city government of Dagupan is offering cash prizes from P5,000 to P10,000 to villages that will record zero firecracker incidents during the holidays.
    In an interview on Thursday, Mayor Belen Fernandez said they target zero incidents this year, especially among children and young people.  
    “We are trying our best to go to the grassroots especially the children to avoid firecrackers. We are offering P5,000 for small barangays that would incur zero firecracker incidents and PHP10,000 for bigger barangays,” she said.
Fernandez urged the residents to instead buy torotot (party horns) for children or use other noisemakers for the celebration of     the New Year revelry and use the money for buying food instead of firecrackers.
    “Sa lahat ng kabataan at mga magulang, kailangan magtulungan tayo para maiwasan na maging victim ng paputok (To the young people and the parents, let us help one another so we could prevent being a victim of firecrackers),” she added.
    Relatively, the Department of Health - Center of Health Development in the Ilocos Region (DOH-CHD-1) on Thursday held the regional launching of the fight against firecracker use in Dagupan City, dubbed “Iwas Paputok.”
    DOH-CHD-1 director Paula Paz Sydiongco said in her speech that victims of firecracker-related accidents are getting younger, with some 5 to 9 years old, thus she urged parents to really look after their kids.
    Total firecracker-related incidents in Pangasinan from Dec. 21, 2021 to Jan. 6, 2023 reached 74 cases, she said. 
Sydiongco also called for a well-balanced diet during the holiday celebrations and for people who have cough or colds to use face masks. -- PNA
 
 

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Final tranche of salary hikes for gov’t workers takes effect January

By Zacarian Sarao

MANILA — The last tranche of the mandated salary hikes for government workers shall take effect in January, said the Dept. of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday.
    The fourth and final tranche is the last phase of the pay increase mandated by Republic Act (RA) 11466 or the “Salary Standardization Law of 2019,” series of 2020.
    “Government employees can look forward to receiving higher pay as the fourth and last tranche of mandated salary hikes takes effect on 01 January 2023,” said DBM in a statement.
    According to DBM, RA 11466 covers all positions for civilian personnel, whether regular, casual, or contractual in nature, appointive or elective, full-time or part-time, now existing or created in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches; constitutional commissions and other constitutional offices; state universities and colleges (SUCs); and government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) not covered by RA 10149.
    It also applies to all positions for salaried LGU personnel, whether regular, contractual or casual in nature, elective or appointive; on full-time or part-time basis, now existing or created in local government units (LGUs), and all positions for barangay personnel which are paid monthly honoraria.
    Meanwhile, those engaged without employer-employee relationship and funded from non-Personnel Services (PS) appropriations/budgets are excluded from the coverage of the Circular.
    Military and uniformed personnel, GOCCs under RA 10149, and individuals whose services are engaged through job orders, contracts of service, consultancy or service contracts with no employer-employee relationship are also excluded from RA 11466.
    The DBM said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman has already signed two separate Budget Circulars regarding the fourth tranche of Salary Schedule for civilian personnel and LGU workers.
    Meanwhile, under the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA), around P48 million was allocated under the Governance Commission for GOCCs’ (GCG) budget to support the conduct of a study on the government compensation structure of the different national government agencies and GOCCs.
    “Apart from the conduct of the study, the DBM is also undertaking a review of the rates of the existing benefits being provided to qualified government employees to assess if these may need adjustment in the future,” Pangandaman said.

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Baguio City gov’t workers’ 4th salary increase stalled

By Jordan G. Habbiling

BAGUIO CITY -- Having exceeded its Personal Service (PS) limitation for fiscal year 2023, the City Government of Baguio is “constrained” to implement the 4th tranche of the salary standardization for its employees.
    This was the response of lawyer Naoime Humilde of the Dept. of Budget and Management- Cordillera Administrative Region to the City Council during a forum Dec. 5 to their question about possibility of granting the 4th tranche salary increase of employees.
    Pursuant to Section 325(a) of the Local Government Code of 1991 (RA No. 7160), first to third class local government units such as Baguio City shall not allocate an amount exceeding 45% of its total annual income from regular sources of the previous year for personal services (PS) in the next preceding year.
    In the foregoing case of the City Government, the basis for computing its 45% PS limitation to be applied next year is fiscal year 2021.
    Personal services (PS) refers to all budgetary items intended for the payment of salaries, wages, step increments, and other compensation of permanent, temporary, contractual, and casual employees of  a local government unit (LBC No. 98).
    The Salary Standardization Law of 2019 (RA 11466) also provides that the implementation of the salary adjustment is subject to the said PS limitation.
    Humilde, however, said there are possible options the city government can explore to be able to provide the fourth tranche salary increase despite the PS excess.
    Local Budget Circular 145 issued in March, 2022 states that, in case the PS cap has exceeded, the local government may be granted additional PS expenditures if it collapses vacant plantilla positions.  
“    Pwede po nating ibalik itong collapsed positions once kailangan na at kung wala nang PS excess,” Humilde said.
    Another option based on LBC 145 is to reduce PS items of lesser priority. The current salary scheme is excluded from the option of items that may be reduced as any reduction in the current salary scheme is against the general policy on non-diminution of salary.
    According to City Budget Officer Leticia Clemente, the PS excess is P21,258,528.67 and the amount needed for the fourth tranche of the salary standardization is P28 million.
    Clemente said the city government had not exceeded its PS limitation for years until recently.
    Humilde said any excess in the PS allocation should be disapproved, but she assured that DBM would look into the factors that had led to the excess in the PS allocation. “As a rule, kahit nag-exceed tayo sa PS cap, we cannot reduce the salary rates that [the employees] are receiving now,” Humilde said.
    She added as effect of the PS excess, there should be no more additional PS cost to be incurred. 
Leaning towards the first option presented by Humilde, the city council tasked the local finance committee to study which vacant positions to be collapsed to and come up with the corresponding computation to be able to determine whether city government could satisfy the funding requirement of the fourth tranche salary increase through this option. All documents related to this would be submitted to the city council.
    Clemente said this would have to be discussed with Mayor Benjamin Magalong and department heads.
    Meanwhile, Councilor Bomogao said a possible long-term solution to avoid any PS excess in the future is to “increase more economic activities” in the city.
 

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DepEd gives P30-M for Cordi teachers’ additional incentive

By Liza Agoot  

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The Dept. of Education Cordillera downloaded a total of P30 million to the eight Schools Division Offices for the additional incentive of teachers.
    Lawyer Sebastian Tayaban, chief of the DepEd-CAR finance division, on Wednesday said each of the 17,291 teaching personnel from kindergarten to Grade 12 will receive a total of PHP1,500 additional incentive.
    The P1,000 is an incentive released by the DepEd central office in celebration of the World Teachers Day.
    The P500 is the teacher’s medical examination allowance.
    “We have already downloaded the amount to the division offices. They will determine when to release to the teachers,” Tayaban said.
    Aside from the amount, the teachers are also entitled to P300 per day allowance for attending webinar.    
    In May, teachers received their mid-year bonus which is equivalent to their one month salary.
    On the same month, the P6,000 uniform allowance was also released to the teachers.
    Their chalk allowance was released in June to allow teachers to have funds for miscellaneous expenses considering that they will not need a chalk to teach due to the new mode of teaching.
    Tayaban said the DepEd central office is still studying the possibility of giving communication allowance to the teachers considering their high utilization of their cellular phones and internet in the performance of their job during the pandemic. (PNA) 
 
 

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P3-K X’mas bonus set for bocaps, SKs, IPMRs

By Mar T. Supnad

Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go said the Office of the President will give P3,000 as Christmas incentives to elected barangay officials. 

Go said those who are going to receive are  barangay captains, kagawads, Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairpersons, and Indigenous People’s Mandatory Representatives (IPMRs) to show appreciation for their hard work in their respective communities pending the passage of a measure providing for additional compensation for them.

“Sinuggest ko po ‘yan kay Pangulong Duterte para mapasaya ang ating mga barangay officials na walang sawang nagseserbisyo sa kanilang mga komunidad,” said Go.

 “Gumagawa po kami ng paraan ni Pangulong Duterte na mabigyan man lang kayo ng Christmas incentives o anuman po na pwede ninyong magamit ngayong pasko para po sa mga elected barangay officials,” he added.

 The senator is hoping this would provide incentives for their untiring service as providers of frontline services to the community while waiting for the passage of Senate Bill (SB) No. 391 or the “Barangay Services Compensation Act” which is still being deliberated in the Senate committee on local government. 

Originally known as the “Magna Carta for Barangays Act of 2019” filed by Senator Go on July this year, SB 391 is a consolidated version of all other related bills filed in the Senate which aim to provide barangay officials additional compensation similarly accorded to a regular government employee as well as other benefits to promote their welfare in return for the service they render to their respective communities. 

As the basic unit of governance in the country, the senator has always been vocal about promoting the welfare of barangay officials in return for their critical role they play in their respective communities. 

“The barangay serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in our communities,” he said during a Senate committee hearing. 

“It is through our barangays that government programs and services reach our people. It is through our barangays that our policies, plans, and projects aimed at improving our country materialize. Most importantly, it is in our barangays that we hone dutiful citizens who will become the future builders of our nation,” he added.

The senator also said that it is high time that the hard work and efforts of barangay officials are recognized. 

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Bontoc LGU ups Day Care workers’ pay

By Alpine L. Killa

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Bontoc government has increased honoraria of child development workers of this capital town this year.

Municipal Budget Officer Aida Lingbanan bared this during the municipal peace and order council meeting on March 20 at Barangay Alab.   

According to Social Welfare Officer III Araceli Shane Bayanos of the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office, CDWs now receive monthly honoraria of P3,700 each from P3, 200 monthly honoraria they received the past year.

“An amount of P500.00 was added to the monthly honoraria given by the municipal government to the CDWs in the 16 barangays of Bontoc,” Bayanos said.

There are 29 CDWs in Bontoc with four under plantilla position of the MSWDO while 25 are receiving honoraria from the Bontoc LGU and barangay government counterpart.

For school year 2018-2019, there were 582 Day Care children enrolled in the Child Development Centers in the municipality.

Mayor Franklin Odsey said the municipal government has always been supportive of the social and education sectors.

“We recognized the hard work of our Day Care Workers who are in the front line in bringing quality education in their respective barangays. Thus, it is fitting to increase their honoraria as an incentive for all their hard work,” Odsey said. 

The mayor added the increase in the honoraria given to CDWs was due to harmonious alliance between the chief executive and the legislative in the improvement and implementation of government’s program for a progressive Bontoc.

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Nueva Vizcaya town workers get P84-k x’mas bonus

By Victor Martin

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya -- Municipal government employees in this town received last week their Christmas bonus amounting to P84,000 each, according to their mayor.

The amount is the biggest compared to those given to other municipal government employees in the province.

Mayor Ralph Lantion said contractual and job order workers of the municipal government also received at least P12,000 in Yuletide incentives.

Lantion said local government employees who served for more than 20 years received an additional P10,000 aside from their 13th month pay and cash gifts.

Lantion said more than 200 barangay and Sanguniang Kabataan officials also received P5,000 each.

“Wala ng utang ang ating LGU (local government unit) at maraming nagbigay ng donasyon para mapasaya ang ating mga kababayan ngayong Pasko,” Lantion said.

Lantion, a former commissioner of the Commission on Elections and Manila regional trial court judge, does not get his salary and instead uses it for his education programs.     

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