Government employees, including personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP), are expected to receive another cash incentive this year-end of 2020, a new law says.
The Chief Executive, President Duterte through Executive Secretary Medialdea, signed Administrative Order (AO) No. 37, series of 2020, that mandates the grant of Service Recognition Incentive (SRI), a one-time incentive that will amount to Ten thousand pesos (Php 10,000) applicable for 2020 year-end only, to all qualified government employees.
The AO cited Section (4)h) of JR No. 4, series of 2000, which authorizes the grant of:
- (a) incentives to reward an employee’s loyalty to government service and contributions to the agency’s continuing viable existence;
- (b) incentives as rewards for exceeding agency financial and operational performance targets to motivate employee efforts toward higher productivity: and
- (c) other existing benefits to be categorized by the DBM as incentives
The law also added that government employees deserve to be rewarded to recognize their collective and unceasing participation in and invaluable contribution to the Administration’s continuing efforts toward the establishment of streamlined government processes and more responsive delivery of public services.
What is Service Recognition Incentive or SRI?
The SRI is for Government Employees in the Executive Department. The AO authorizes the grant of a one-time Service Recognition Incentive (SRI) at a uniform amount not exceeding Ten Thousand Pesos (P10,000) for each of the following personnel in the Executive Department:
- Civilian personnel in national government agencies (NGAS), including those in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCS), occupying regular, contractual or casual positions; and
- Military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the Department of National Defense, and uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Bureau of Corrections under the Department of Justice, the Philippine Coast Guard under the Department of Transportation, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Who are entitled to receive SRI?
The AO set the following conditions for the grant of the SRI :
- a. The civilian personnel are occupying regular, contractual or casual positions;
- b. The personnel are still in the government service as of 30 November 2020;
- c. The personnel have rendered at least four (4) months of service as of 30 November 2020;
- d. Employees who have rendered less than four (4) months of service as of 30 November 2020 shall be entitled to a pro-rated share of the SRI, as follows:
- e. The employees have not received any additional year-end benefit in FY 2020 over and above the benefit authorized under Republic Act (RA) No. 6686, as amended by RA NO. 8441.
Note: The Republic Acts (RAs) mentioned above in the last sub-paragraph “e” refers to laws that govern the grant of year-end bonus and cash gift for government employees, so don’t mind that for now.
Who are NOT entitled to receive SRI?
According to the AO, those engaged without an employer-employee relationship and whose compensation are not funded from Personnel Services (PS) appropriations/budgets are excluded from the grant of the SRI such as:
a. Consultants and experts engaged for a limited period to perform specific activities or services with expected outputs;
b. Laborers engaged through job contracts (pakyaw) and those paid on piece work basis;
c. Student workers and apprentices; and
d. Individuals and groups of people whose services are engaged through job orders, contracts of service or others similarly situated.
Funding Source of SRI
For National Government Agencies (NGAs), including SUCs and military and uniformed personnel (including PNP), the amount required shall be charged against the:
- a. For NGAs, including SUCs, and military and uniformed personnel, the amount required shall be charged against the available released Personnel Services (PS) allotments of the respective agencies under Republic Act No. 11465 or the “FY 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA)”:
- b. In case of deficiency, the amount required may be charged against the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses allotment of the concerned government agency, subject to the rules on modification of allotments under Section 70 of the General Provisions of the FY 2020 GAA, and other pertinent budgeting, accounting and auditing rules and regulations:
When is the release date of SRI?
The AO said that the payment of the SRI to all qualified government employees shall not be earlier than 21 December 2019.
As announced by the PNP Finance Service on its website, the payout date of SRI is on DECEMBER 30, 2020.
Meaning, government employees are expected to receive it from December 22 onwards. But considering that the respective finance units/offices need to perform necessary preparations for its release to individual accounts, it may take some time.
I am pretty sure though that it will be released not more than December 31, 2020 as the law requires that unused funds or budget shall be returned back to the National Treasury. Thus, agencies concerned are constrained to release this before December 31.
Meanwhile, the AO also provides that the DBM shall issue supplemental guidelines to implement this Order, as may be necessary.
What does it mean for PNP personnel?
The rules for the grant of SRI for this year is similar to that of last year. However, there is a slight change in the funding source. For this year, the main source of fund for SRI is the Personnel Services Allotment. As we now know, the PS Allotment of a unit/agency is where the salary and other benefits are drawn from.
Then, in case that the PS allotment will not be enough, the amount required to complete the determined SRI will be drawn from MOOE funds of the PNP.
There is no assured amount for SRI for this year as compared to last year. This is mainly because last year, the Php7,000 portion was drawn from Miscellaneous Personnel Benefit Funds (MPBF) and the deficiency is charged from PS allotment. While for 2020, the main source is the PS allotment and MOOE for the deficiency.
It must be remembered that the AO mandates that the SRI is uniform and must not exceed Php 10,000. I am pretty confident that the PNP will come up with SRI amount that is fair and competitive with other agencies’ SRI. In fact, we can pray that it will be exactly Php 10,000!
Being an optimist won’t hurt. So, expect up to Php 10,000 to be credited to your individual ATM account starting from December 23 and not more than December 31 of this year.
Important to note also, this Service Recognition Incentive is a one-time bonus that is good for 2020 only.
The scanned copy of Administrative Order no. 37 is available below:
