Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad is urging government employees to help curb graft and corruption and improve competitiveness to attract trade and investments in the country.
He said the newly signed Executive Order 181 by President Aquino that approves an incentive bonus for government employees is part of the government’s measure to improve competitiveness and sustain economic growth.
“Our civil servants are behind every measure that has fueled greater economic growth and governance reform in the country,” Abad said in a news statement.
An initial P30.6 billion will be released for the incentive bonus of government employees and uniformed personnel such as police officers and firemen.
The incentive bonus is patterned after that of the private corporations to improve the services of their employees, Abad said. “We’re matching sound practices already followed by the private sector,” he added.
The incentive bonus will also cover military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense. Employees of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, will also benefit from the incentive bonus.
Abad said the incentive bonus will also be given to personnel in Congress, the Judiciary, the Commission on Audit, the Commission on Elections, and the Office of the Ombudsman.
Likewise, employees at the government-owned and -controlled corporations will be covered, as well as local water districts and government financial institutions.
An employee will be given a bonus worth of his one-month salary if the agency he works for has fulfilled 90 percent of the targets under the performance indicators, while those who fail to reach the benchmark will get a minimum of P5,000 each. The incentive bonus will be released by June 1, 2015.