Gov’t workers assured of pay during community quarantine

FILE: Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Wendel Avisado at the Senate in Pasay City on Wednesday (Feb. 26, 2020). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – Government workers, both regular and job orders (JOs), will receive their salaries during the enhanced community quarantine which was declared over mainland Luzon from March 17 to April 12, 2020.

The same goes for contractors that have projects with the various government agencies.

“Everything is normal. Nothing is disrupted in DBM’s operations,” Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Wendel Avisado told the Philippine News Agency Wednesday.

Avisado said problems on the disbursement of funds “will only happen when requirements are not complied with and submitted on time.”

“Otherwise, same systems and procedures apply and are in place,” he said.

Avisado said payment of salaries lies on heads of government agencies.

“All that we ensure is that funds are available,” he added.

Avisado said the mid-year bonus of state workers, however, will not be frontloaded.

Some government workers who hold permanent positions have received to date their salaries for end-March, while some JOs got pays for until the middle of the month only pending additional submissions from their offices.

Normally, JOs are paid depending on the days they reported for work.

In a statement Tuesday, Avisado assured state workers that government operations would not be hampered with the enhanced community quarantine.

“Releases of allotments and cash allocations shall be facilitated to cover the requirements of the government,” he said.

He added the funds to be released will be not only for measures related to addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), but also for infrastructure projects and the peace and order requirements of the uniformed personnel, among others.