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Deadline still on March 15

Monday, February 29, 2016

retary Zenaida Y. Monsada said.

The procedure for the COE-FIT Eligibility was outlined in the Department Circular
No. DC2013-05-0009 entitled Guidelines for
the Selection Process of RE Projects under
FIT System and the Award of the Certificate
for FIT Eligibility.
Under this circular, the DOE is tasked
By MADELAINE B. MIRAFLOR
to validate the successful commissioning
he race towards Feed-In Tariff of the project and affirm the date of start of
(FIT) eligibility for solar project its commercial operations within 15 working
is nearing its end and the Depart- days from the date thereof and issue the
ment of Energy (DOE) is now COE-FIT Eligibility on a first-come-firstrushing to process the
serve basis.
applications and meet
RE developers may
its own deadline: March
request for validation at
15, 2016.
80 percent electro -meThe Renewable Enerchanical completion of the
gy Management Bureau
project.
is now ready to validate
As a gentle reminder,
the projects of renewable
only RE developers with
energy (RE) developers,
complete documentary
rushing to meet the 15
requirements for solar enMarch 2016 deadline for
ergy projects, including
the FIT System for soa valid RESC and conlar, according to a DOE
firmed Declaration of Comstatement.
merciality [DOC], shall be
To recall, the installaconsidered and shall be
tion target for solar FIT
required to send a formal
System was amended
letter addressed to the
DOE Secretary for final
from 50 to 500 megawatts
validation, DOE noted.
(MW) to be subscribed
The validation activities
on or not later than 15
March 2016 by fully comshall be based on the apZenaida Y. Monsada
proved DOC, particularly
missioned energy genon the designed development scheme, and
eration projects.
This decision was made by the DOE to any deviation shall be subject to prior apensure availability of power supply during proval of the DOE.
the summer periods of 2015 and 2016.
The DOE will issue the COE-FIT EliThe DOE had so far issued seven certifi- gibility until the full subscription of the
cates of endorsement (COE) for fit eligibil- installation target. The COE-FIT Eligibility
ity Renewable Energy Service Contracts will indicate the installed capacity that will
(RESCs) to the Energy Regulatory Commis- be qualified for the FIT rate and the actual
sion (ERC). ERC will then issue a Certificate date of Commercial Operations as basis for
commencement of FIT charge.
of Compliance for these projects.
Monsada said in an earlier Business
We are committed to a transparent
award of the COE-FIT Eligibility and remind Bulletin that the 450-megawatt second
all RE developers to observe the procedures wave cap of solar installations may wind up
under the existing guidelines, Energy Sec- oversubscribed.

No extension for issuance of FIT eligibility

Govt begins pay hike budget release

By CHINO S. LEYCO

The national government will be spending an initial P24 billion for the increase in
salaries of some 1.5 million government
employees, the Department of Budget and
Management (DBM) said.
Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad
said the government will start releasing the
funds beginning today, which will benefit
civilian personnel, as well as provide additional allowances for military and uniformed
personnel (MUP).
Of the P24 billion, P18.64 billion will
augment the compensation of civilian
personnel, while P5.36 billion will go to the
allowances and hazard pay of MUP, Abad
said in a statement.
The remaining P33 billion appropriated
for compensation adjustments has been set
aside for newly-filled positions, and for the
mid-year bonus, which will be released not

earlier than May 15 of this year, he added.

The latest release is part of the P57-billion appropriation covering the first tranche
of compensation adjustments mandated by
Executive Order No. 201, which was sourced
from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits
Fund (MPBF) of the 2016 national budget.
The amount is based on the data generated from the Government Manpower
Information System (GMIS) on the number
of filled positions as of December 31 last
year, Abad said.
The amount for civilian personnel includes the following differentials as a result
of salary adjustment: salary differential,
step increment due to length of service,
13th month pay differential, PhilHealth
differential, ECIP differential, and RLIP
differential.
The amount for MUP includes monthly
Provisional Allowance, monthly Officers Allowance and Hazard Pay increase from P240
to P390 per month.
We want to ensure the immediate
implementation of
the new salary rates
and the release the
MUP differentials,
as well as the release
of the pay and allowance differentials as
the compensation
adjustments apply
retroactively to the
start of the year,
Abad said.
We also want
to emphasize that
the first tranche of
salary adjustments
includes a mid-year
bonus equivalent to
one months salary
and a Productivity
Enhancement Incentive (PEI) in the
amount of P5,000,
he added.
The budget chief
also said that benefits not exceeding
P82,000 are exempt
from tax, along with
public servants bonuses with salary
grades 1 to 11.
Abad clarified
that GovernmentOwned or Controlled Corporations
(GOCCs) are included in the compensation adjustment,
provided that they
are not covered by
Republic Act 10149,
which establishes a
separate compensation and classification system for
GOCC personnel.
Fo r c o v e r e d
GOCCs, the funds
needed for the adjustments shall be
charged against their
corporate funds.

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