Govt employees ask High Court to stop DBM order setting incentive bonus cap

Government employees’ groups have petitioned the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) from setting and enforcing a ceiling of P25,000 on the collective negotiation agreement (CNA) incentive bonus.   Through their umbrella organization, Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), the state employees informed the high court that the “CNA incentive bonus is traditionally one of the fringe benefits provided to government employees.”   COURAGE claimed Secretary Florencio Abad of the Department of Budget and Management has no power to set limits or set conditions in the grant of the (bonus).”   COURAGE also said Abad “committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when he issued Budget Circular No. 2011-5,” which set the P25,000 ceiling on the CNA incentive bonus for 2011.   The petitioner also claimed said the disputed circular is unconstitutional.   “Clearly, A.O. 135 opened the entire savings of each agency as the source of CNA Incentive Bonus and Budget Circular No.2011-5 sought to modify the same in violation of the principle of the hierarchy of laws,” COURAGE said.   The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DWSD) was also named a respondent in the petition because of a memorandum to its employees directing the refund of CNA incentives in excess of P25,000.   DBM circular ‘curbs abuses’   In a statement issued last Feb. 13, Abad said Budget Circular No. 2011-5, “is a key reform measure that establishes 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. Oftentimes, 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,” Abad said.   The DBM chief said the practice of bloating MOOE budgets “distorted the salary system within government, with some agencies providing obscenely high CNA incentives, while others are practically dealing with spare change.”   The circular also restricts the fund sourcing of CNA incentives bonus to allocations for travel, communication, repair and maintenance, transportation and delivery, supplies and materials, and utilities.   Abad explained that this limitation is meant to ensure “that the agencies’ capability to deliver public goods and services is not compromised.”   He noted that less than 40 percent of the country’s 1.163 billion government employees receive CNA incentives because there are no accredited employees’ union in several departments and agencies. — ELR, GMA News