Eligible workers of government will be given a one-time service recognition incentive (SRI) of not more than P10,000, Malacañang announced on Monday afternoon, Dec. 27.

The release of the cash incentive was authorized by President Duterte via administrative order (AO) no. 45, which he signed on Monday.

"The government continues to acknowledge all public servants for their collective and unceasing participation in and invaluable contribution to the establishment of streamlined governemnt processes and responsive delivery of services to the public, especially in the midst of the prevailing public health emergency due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) pandemic," the four-page AO read.

"It is imperative to provide reasonable incentives and assistance to our public servants, who are impacted not only by the pandemic, but also by various natural calamities," the Palace directive further stated.

It said that the SRI would be given to "personnel in the executive department".

It went on to specificy these personnel as "A. Civilian personnel in national government agencies (NGAs), including those in state universities and colleges (SUCs), and government-opened or controlled corporations (GOCCs), occupying regular, contractual, or casual positions."

Also entitled to the SRI are "B. Military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) under the Department of National Defense (DND), and uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) under the Department of Transportation (DOTr), and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NMRIA) under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)."

Civilian personnel who are occupying regular, contractual, or casual positions as of Nov. 30, 2021 are eligible to receive the yearend financial incentive.

To get the maximum P10,000 SRI, the personnel must have rendered at least a total or an aggregate of four months of satisfactory service as of Nov. 30, 2021, "inclusive of services rendered under any of the alternative work arrangements prescribed by the Civil Service Commission (CSC)".

Meanwhile, those who have rendered less than a total or an aggregate of four months of satisfactory service as of the cutoff date shall ne entitled to a pro-rated share of the SRI. This is broken down as follows: 40 percent of SRI for personnel who worked for three months, but less than four months; 30 percent for two months, but less than three months; 20 percent for one month, but less than two months; and 10 percent for less than one month of service.

To be entitled to the SRI, the worker "must not have received any additional yearend benefit in fiscal year 2021 over and above the benefit authorized under Republic Act (RA) No.6686, as amended by RA No. 8441," the AO read.

Those engaged without employer-employee relationship and whose compensation are funded from non-personnel services (PS) appropriations/ budgets are excluded from the grant of SRI.