Malacañang should shoulder the balance of P3,000 year-end “performance bonus” of government workers authorized last year to put an end to the current impasse between them and government agencies, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. said yesterday.

Villar, a presidential contender in the May 2010 elections, said the Palace can dig into its “hoard of unspent appropriations” in settling its obligations to state workers.

Malacañang, he said, should “dig into its deep pocket of savings” and shoulder the balance of P3,000 due to employees of agencies which have no “internal savings” to draw it from.

“Many of our fellow employees are caught in a bureaucratic ping-pong. This blame- passing must end. This finger-pointing between the Palace and the agencies can be ended if Malacanang will just shoulder the P3,000,” Villar said.

“In the fiscal year 2008 budget document called the National Expenditure Program Financing , it says there that the national government posted savings for that year in the amount of P140 billion,” he said.

Under the Malacañang guidelines on the P10,000 year-end bonus, the amount of P7,000 will be shouldered by the national government, while P3,000 will be sourced from agency savings.

Many agencies, the Department of Education (DepEd) among them, have, however, complained that they have no savings to tap, as they have spent all their allocations, based on a tight expenditure program which left no room for surplus.

Villar said the “standoff” can be ended if Malacañang “as the controller of funds” will just shoulder the “agency equity of P3,000” of those offices with no savings no spare.

Villar also said monthly fiscal reports of the Finance department also showed gross under spending on the part of the government.

“Actual spending has always been below authorized levels,” he said.

In the case of the teachers Villar said that if the amount in contention is about P1 billion, Malacanang must give in and just shoulder the amount because DepEd is hard-pressed in coming up with ‘savings’.

Villar said it is important teachers are well compensated because they will play a role in the upcoming elections in May as the poll precincts will be manned by teachers.