COTABATO CITY – More than 30,000 regular and casual employees of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will receive Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) pay for 2015 starting next week.
Lawyer Laisa Alamia, ARMM Executive Secretary, said a P583-million grant for this purpose has already been downloaded by the Department of Budget and Management to the region and is now being transferred to the 25 offices and line agencies under the ARMM.
Sec. Alamia said the “one-time grant is the first in the region’s history.” The PEI is a component of the government’s Performance-Based Incentive System, pursuant to Executive Order 181.
In order to qualify for the PEI, agencies must pass certain requirements to include achievement of at least 90% of their 2014 targets, compliance with the Transparency Seal under the General Provisions of the 2014 General Appropriations Act, and compliance in posting, or publication, of the Citizen’s Charter.
“We qualified for this grant because we passed the good governance conditions set by the national government,” said Sec. Alamia. She reiterated that the region passed the requirements “because of the reforms in governance agenda that the current administration has been doing as well as its political will to upgrade and level up professionalism and ethical standards of the employees.”
A total of 29,997 regular and 145 casual employees in the region will receive the incentive that ranges from P5,000 to one-month basic salary. However, an employee must have rendered at least four months of service as of May 31, 2015 and has obtained at least a satisfactory performance rating in order to receive his incentive pay.
Employees who have served less the specified length of service may still be paid the full amount of the PEI upon completion of the four months and satisfactory service rating requirements before the end of 2015. Meanwhile, employees hired after May 31, 2015 may be paid the full amount of the PEI only upon completion of the four months and satisfactory service rating requirements before the end of 2015.
Consultants and experts hired to perform specific services with expected outputs and individuals engaged in job orders, or contracts for specific services are not entitled to such incentive. The grant of PEI is a move of the national government to promote higher productivity among public servants. (Bureau of Public Information)