by Rex Godinez Ortega, OC

THE much-awaited release of rice and grocery items for MSU-IIT employees is finally happening with the distribution of the goods beginning last week.

The rice and grocery items make up the service incentive that is given to employees once a year under the Institute’s Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence (PRAISE).

The PRAISE is the program implemented by MSU-IIT that is expected to encourage its over 700 employees to be creative, innovative, efficient, honest, and productive.

The distribution of the goods occurs every July, usually during the Charter Day (July 12), as authorized by Board of Regents Resolution No. 128, Series of 2016. 

“These items are released to IIT employees to augment the benefits being given to them,” explains Armilyn K. Abragan, head of the Procurement Service Division.

“The goods being distributed are 50 kilos of rice and assorted grocery items worth P1,500,” Abragan says.

Only employees working for the Institute for at least one year are entitled to receive the incentive. These include employees whose status is either casual, contractual, or temporary.

 “It is my first time to receive the incentive, and I am very thankful as it saves me a lot of money,” says Administrative Officer Julie Christine Jimenez of the Office of the Chancellor.

Employees who are on study leave and those who are absent without leave are, however, not entitled to the service incentive.

To qualify for the incentive, employees must earn a “satisfactory” rating in their Individual Performance Commitment and Review (IPCR) form for two rating periods.

The rating periods covered for this July’s release of the service incentive are January to June 2018 and July to December 2018.

The distribution of the grocery items is handled by the Institute’s two unions – the Administrative Non-Teaching Employees Union (ANTEU) and the Faculty Union (FU).

To avoid problems, the ANTEU spreads the release of the grocery items over several days starting July 17, and designates a particular date for claiming by personnel from pre-identified offices.  

The FU, for its part, schedules the release of the grocery items to the faculty members for Friday (July 19) at its office.

The releasing of the grocery items for the non-teaching employees is done at the premises of the Supply and Property Management Division.

The releasing of the 50 kilos of rice, which come in the form of two 25-kilo sacks, is done outside the campus at the winning supplier’s store.