A militant lawmaker on Tuesday scored the decrease in the funding for Performance-Based Bonuses given to government employees at the plenary debates Monday for the 2018 budget of the Department of Budget and Management.
Under the 2018 General Appropriations Bill, from P16 billion in the 2017 General Appropriations Act, funding for PBB will go down to P11 billion.
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. Antonio Tinio was referring to the decrease that was based on DBM Memorandum Circular 2017-1, or the “Guidelines for the Grant of Performance-Based Bonus for Fiscal Year 2017 under Executive Order No. 80, s. 2012 and Executive Order No. 201, s. 2016.”
The guidelines reduced the PBB starting 2017 to a range of 50 percent of the employee’s salary up to 65 percent. The benefit had ranged from a one month salary up to two months salary of the employee per Executive Orders 80 and 201.
“Can a mere Memorandum Circular of the DBM supersede an Executive Order issued by the President? We say that it cannot. This drastic reduction of the PBB therefore has a very questionable legal basis,” Tinio said “Second, I raise this issue because this results to a diminution of a benefit already given to and relied upon by many government employees.”
The solon cited as example a government employee receiving Salary Grade 1, the minimum pay grade in government amounting to P10,000 per month.
But because of the memorandum, Tinio said government employees will only get from P5,000 to P6,500.
Tinio said a system of performance-based incentives including the PBB must be opposed for being “divisive” and “discriminatory.”
“The Performance-Based Bonus is not given to all employees, among other reasons. However, government should not take away the benefits of government employees especially those receiving meager salaries,” Tinio said.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, chair of the House committee on appropriations, said that the Budget department is currently evaluating whether or not the PBB is effective and should be discontinued or enhanced.
Tinio urged the Budget department to follow what was provided by EOs 80 and 201 and not drastically reduce the PBB.