State workers’ performance-based bonus to continue —DBM’s Diokno

Eligible government employees will continue to receive their performance-based bonuses,  according to Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

“There is no withholding of the PBB for FY (Fiscal Year) 2017. In fact, the FY 2016 PBB release is ongoing and the Memorandum Circular for the FY 2017 PBB was issued last March 9, 2017. The bonus for FY 2017 will be released starting first quarter of FY 2018,” Diokno said in a statement late Friday.

He made the clarification after House appropriations committee chair Davao City Representative Karlo Nograles said on Monday that the Department of Budget and Management is "currently evaluating [if] the PBB should continue." 

Likewise, Diokno said that the PBB  has been effective in increasing compliance to good governance standards, instilling financial discipline, and improving performance management.

“We were able to push compliance to budget, procurement, service standards, and SALN disclosures,” the Budget chief said.

"Transparency Seal increased from 87 percent in 2012 to 98 percent in 2016; Citizen’s Charter, from 79.8 percent in 2011 to 99.7 percent in 2016; Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), from 32 percent in 2011 to 92 percent in 2016; and Report on Ageing of Cash Advances, from less than 30 percent in 2011 to 97 percent in 2016," he added.

Moreover, he said that with the PBB, government agencies have become more conscious about budget utilization as well as linking individual to office performance.

However, the Budget chief admitted that there is a need to review the eligibility process.

“We must tighten the system of granting the PBB, simplify the validation and address the unintended consequences, like the tendency of agencies to under-target. In this way, we can push for excellence in performance in the bureaucracy,” he said.

Thus, the DBM and partner agencies are studying the possibility of focusing the bonus for fiscal year 2018 and 2019 on attaining process objectives and results rather than Major Final Output (MFO) targets, in line with President Duterte’s order to streamline frontline services and reduce administrative burden.

“We are also thinking of rewarding agencies for management improvements in planning procurement, and financial management to improve their absorptive capacity and deliver more services in line with the Philippine Development Plan (PDP),” the Budget chief said.

The proposed changes in the PBB will be discussed with the members of the Administrative Order No. 25 Inter-Agency Task Force and other concerned agencies. —John Ted Cordero/LBG, GMA News