Davao City Council approves P47.9M supplemental budget

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/22 Dec) —- The City Council is expected to pass the proposed P47.9M budget on third and final reading on Monday. 

The Council unanimously approved on second reading last Friday Supplemental Budget No. 4 (SB 4) allocating P47.9 million. 

Councilor Myrna Dalodo-Ortiz, chair of the Committee on Finance, Ways and Appropriations and proponent of the proposed ordinanc said the budget will be used to grant service recognition initiatives (SRIs) worth P20,000 each to 2,395 qualified City Hall employees.

_{The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Davao City. Photo from the Davao City Government web page.}

The funds came from the reversion of the current year’s appropriation for personal services; with P45.14 million coming from the general fund proper and P2.76 million from the economic enterprises (market operations, cemetery operations, and slaughterhouses operations)

Ortiz said the supplemental budget is pursuant to the Malacanang Palace’s Administrative Order No. 27 (AO), which was issued by the Office of the President and signed by Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin on December 12.

In the committee report, City Budget Office officer Ermelinda Gallego said the AO follows conditions stated in the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Budget Circular No. 2024-7.

As stated in the circular, qualified employees must meet specific conditions to receive:  they must hold regular, contractual, or casual positions and remain in government service as of November 30, 2024; they should have rendered at least four months of satisfactory service by that date, including work performed under alternative arrangements prescribed by the Civil Service Commission; employees with less than four months of service are eligible for a prorated SRI; and they must not have received any additional yearend benefits in 2024 beyond those authorized cash gifts and Christmas bonuses under Republic Act No. 6686 also known as “An Act Authorizing Annual Christmas Bonus to National and Local Government Officials and Employees”, as amended by RA 8441.

In Cebuano, Ortiz said the budget is for the happiness of City Hall employees, “particularly our plantilla personnel, as we are simply following the presidential order. We tackled this late in the session because Administrative Order (AO) was signed only on December 12, but we had already gone on recess. When it was endorsed by the DBM, it was only released to us on December 16,” Ortiz said.

The other supplemental budgets approved by the City Council are SB1 (P2.2 billion) for projects needing additional funding), SB 2 (P638.9M for salary increases for Plantilla workers, Pasko Fiesta and Lingap program), and SB3 (P433.9M) for bonuses for Plantilla workers, and additional funding for Davao Interim Bus  Service, among others. 

Under SB3, bonuses depend on whether the employee is classified under plantilla, contract of service, or job order staff. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)