President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday issued an administrative order, authorizing a grant of service recognition incentive (SRI) to qualified government employees for the fiscal year 2024. 

Marcos signed the Administrative Order (AO) 2 on Thursday, allowing the provision of incentives to reward employees in recognition of their loyalty to government service and to motivate them to push for higher productivity, including teachers and military and uniformed personnel who will each receive P20,000.

The one-time SRI will be given to civilian personnel in national government agencies (NGAs); military and police personnel; fire and jail personnel under the Department of the Interior and Local Government; and personnel of the Bureau of Corrections, Philippine Coast Guard, and National Mapping and Resource Information Authority. 

The order said eligible government employees will start receiving the SRI on 15 December. 

The SRI will also be granted to civilian personnel in NGAs, including those in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and government-owned and -controlled corporations, occupying regular, contractual, or casual positions as well as to those who have completed four months of satisfactory government service as of 30 November 2024, and who continue to work for the government.

Meanwhile, employees of the Senate, the House of Representatives, the judiciary, the Office of the Ombudsman, and constitutional offices may, likewise, be granted a one-time SRI by their respective office heads at a uniform rate not exceeding P20,000 — chargeable to the available Personnel Services (PS) allotment of their respective agencies.

The SRI may also be given to employees of local government units (LGUs), including those in the villages, depending on the LGUs’ financial capability.

Those employees engaged without an employer-employee relationship, and whose compensation is funded from non-PS appropriations are excluded from the grant of SRI.

These include consultants and experts engaged for a limited period to perform specific activities or services with expected outputs; laborers engaged through job contracts and paid on a piecework basis; student workers and apprentices; and individuals engaged through job orders, contracts of service, and other similar arrangements.

For the rest of the government employees, the SRI will be at a uniform rate not exceeding P20,000.

A copy of Marcos’ order, which was made public on Friday, takes effect immediately upon its publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.