DBM caps gov’t workers’ perks

Perks that government employees may receive from collective negotiation agreements (CAN) have been limited to P25,000 pending a better scheme for performance-based incentives “that reward measurable output,” according to the Department of Budget and Management.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said in a statement Monday that the rule, spelled out in Budget Circular No. 2011-5, was a key reform measure that would establish fairness and prudence in the management of public funds.

“We have seen how government agencies have constricted expenses for crucial programs and projects only to manufacture savings for CNA incentives,” Abad said. Often, “this practice has been abused, with agencies bloating their budgets for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) so they could provide a larger incentive payout.”

The budget chief said such practice also distorted the government’s salary system, with some agencies providing “obscenely high” CNA incentives while others practically deal “with spare change.”

“We want to restore fairness in the public sector compensation system,” Abad said. “We want to improve and optimize government operations.”

Also, the circular also limits the number of MOOE items from which these incentives can be sourced, including travel, communication, repair and maintenance, transportation and delivery, supplies and materials, and utilities.

Abad said the limits would ensure that the agencies’ capability to deliver public goods and services would not be compromised, adding that the measure should not result in inefficient operations.

The budget chief said President Aquino recently issued Administrative Order No. 25, creating an interagency task force to establish a unified and integrated results-based performance management system. This will be the basis for measuring agency and individual performance and for determining performance-based compensation and incentives.

“To restore fairness in government salary standards, President Aquino ordered us to design a better, performance-based compensation package that would reward measurable outputs,” he said.

Abad explained that less than 40 percent of the country’s government employees received CNA incentives because several departments and agencies failed to accredit employees’ unions.