P648.8 million aid for Manila students, employees OK’d

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila government will be giving P648.84 million in cash assistance, benefits and incentives to students, city employees, health workers and contract personnel, Mayor Isko Moreno announced yesterday.

Included in the amount is P302.18 million in incentives for permanent city employees covering retroactive wage adjustments under the second tranche of the Salary Standardization Law, as well as medical, productivity and service recognition incentives.

City hall officials and their co-terminus staff will receive medical allowance of P7,000, P5,000 in productivity enhancement incentive and P10,000 in service recognition incentive, with releases scheduled from Dec. 15 to 23.

Job order and contract of service workers will receive P66 million in gratuity pay, with each eligible worker set to receive P7,000, Moreno said.

For health workers, the city government will release P128.13 million in PhilHealth professional shares for personnel of Manila’s public hospitals and the Manila Health Department, covering collections from July to November 2025.

Moreno also announced P100 million in additional PhilHealth sharing from previously undistributed collections, benefiting medical, non-medical, barangay health workers, nutrition scholars and support personnel.

Under the College Student Assistance Program, the city will distribute P46.03 million to 18,235 students of Universidad de Manila and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, with allowances covering academic months from July to September 2025.

An additional P6.5 million will be released under the College Subsidy Program for the Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology covering the third quarter of 2025.