Sen. Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr. proposed a bill seeking to grant 13-month pay to contractual government workers — which covers over one-fourth of the state workers’ population.

Senate Bill 1621 or Act Providing 13th Month Pay to Government Contractual and Job Order Personnel was filed on Dec. 14 to give recognition to the efforts of contractual workers in service.

“The 13th-month pay will augment the earnings of our JOs (Job Order) and COS (Contract of Service) as a major source of additional funding to be able to afford basic commodities during (the) Christmas season, a well-deserved reward for them,” he said.

13th-month pay is a monetary benefit equivalent to the monthly basic compensation received by an employee, computed pro-rata according to the number of months within a year that the employee has rendered service to the employer.