Per Diem Entitlement of Job-Order Personnel in the Philippines
A comprehensive legal primer for government managers, auditors, and contract workers
1. Introduction
“Job-order” (JO) personnel are now a fixture in Philippine public offices. Because they stand outside the regular plantilla, questions inevitably arise when they must travel on official business: May they receive per diem? This article gathers, in one place, the scattered legal issuances, audit rulings, and doctrinal sign-posts that determine the answer.
2. Who are “Job-Order” Personnel?
| Legal Source | Key Definition / Consequence |
|---|---|
| DBM Budget Circular No. 2007-1, as refined by CSC-COA-DBM Joint Circular No. 1-2017 | JO personnel render “piece-work” or intermittent services “for a short-term and time-bound period” without employer-employee relationship. |
| Administrative Code, Book V | Only regular and casual appointees are “employees” covered by the Civil Service; JO workers are expressly excluded. |
| Labor Code | Government, as employer, is outside the Code; thus JO personnel cannot rely on its provisions either. |
Bottom line: A JO worker is a private contractor supplying services, not a government employee. Entitlements flow from the contract and applicable fiscal rules, not from civil-service law.
3. Per Diem in Philippine Public Finance
Concept – A fixed daily allowance meant to cover lodging, meals, and incidental expenses when an official or employee travels on duty away from his permanent station.
Principal Legal Bases
- Executive Order No. 248 (1995), as amended by E.O. 77 (15 March 2019) – caps and rationalises rates for both domestic and foreign travel.
- DBM National Budget Circular (NBC) No. 579 (2020) – updates domestic rates in light of E.O. 77.
- General Appropriations Act (GAA) – yearly special provisions require compliance with E.O. 77 for any travel chargeable to public funds.
Scope of E.O. 77: It covers “officials and employees” of NGAs, GOCCs, SUCs, LGUs, and “consultants, experts, and employees from the private sector who are engaged by the government.” The italicised clause is the statutory doorway through which JO personnel may qualify.
4. General Rule on JO Benefits
DBM and COA consistently hold that JO personnel are not entitled to benefits “normally enjoyed by government employees,” such as:
- PERA, RATA, ACA, hazard pay
- Clothing, subsistence and laundry allowance
- GSIS/PhilHealth/Pag-IBIG contributions
The principle is echoed in dozens of COA Decision notices disallowing such payments for lack of legal basis.
5. Is Per Diem a Forbidden Benefit? – The Two-Step Test
| Step | Question | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Does the governing travel issuance allow non-employees to receive per diem? | E.O. 77 answers Yes, provided they are “consultants or experts” or similar, expressly authorised by the agency head. |
| 2 | Does the JO contract (or a separate travel order) specifically require the travel and promise per diem at E.O. 77 rates? | Because a JO is a civil contract, the benefit must be spelled out; otherwise the obligation (and funding) does not exist. |
Only when both tests are met may an agency legally disburse per diem to a JO worker.
6. Practical Pathways for Granting Per Diem
Embed a Travel Clause in the JO Contract
- State the need to perform field work or attend meetings/trainings outside the official station.
- Cite E.O. 77 as governing rates (“shall be granted the prevailing domestic per-diem rates under E.O. 77”).
Issue a Travel Order for each trip, approved by the agency head or his/her duly authorised official (per NBC 579).
Process Payment under Travelling Expenses (object code 50202010) of the agency’s MOOE, attaching:
- Approved travel order
- JO contract excerpt
- Itinerary of travel (IOT) & post-trip report
- Official receipts (ORs) for accommodation, if claiming actual expenses beyond standard per diem.
Observe the Rates & Caps (as of the latest NBC):
- Within Philippines: PHP 2 200 per day (Metro Manila and highly urbanised cities); PHP 1 800 elsewhere.
- Foreign travel: USD caps per E.O. 77 Annex B and DFA circular updates.
Secure Budget Availability (Allotment Release Order or LGU appropriation ordinance) before obligation.
7. When Per Diem is Not Allowable
| Scenario | Why Disallowed |
|---|---|
| “Generic” JO contract with no mention of travel | Violates the contract-law principle of mutuality and COA rules on specificity of benefits. |
| Travel is for training or seminars intended to improve the JO’s personal credentials rather than to advance agency deliverables | COA often classifies this as a personal expense. |
| The trip is abroad and no prior authority from the Office of the President (or governing board for GOCCs) was obtained | E.O. 77, Sec. 4 requires OP approval for foreign trips funded by government. |
| Rates exceed E.O. 77 / NBC caps | Any excess is a personal liability subject to notice of disallowance. |
8. COA Jurisprudence & Audit Flags
COA Decision No. 2022-005 – disallowed per diem granted to JO drivers of a state university; contract silent on travel; no agency-head authority.
COA CGS-Legal Opinion (2019/001) – upheld per diem for JO engineers in DPWH project because travel clause was explicit and trip reports showed deliverables tied to project timeline.
Common Findings in Audit Observation Memoranda (AOMs)
- Missing or back-dated travel orders
- Lump-sum payment without individual itineraries
- Claim of per diem and reimbursement of full hotel bill (“double recovery”)
9. Civil Service Commission (CSC) Perspective
While the CSC has no jurisdiction over JO contracts, it routinely reminds agencies—through advisories and resolved cases on “misclassification”—that use of JO workers must be strictly time-bound and project-tied. Excessive reliance on JOs for continuing functions may be flagged as circumvention of civil-service recruitment rules. In practice, auditors use CSC pronouncements to assess the necessity of JO travel.
10. Local Government Unit (LGU) Nuances
- Section 465(b)(1)(vi), Local Government Code lets governors/mayors approve travel of “officers and employees.” LGUs that wish to extend per diem to JO workers must issue a local ordinance or sanggunian resolution treating them as “persons hired under a job-order contract” and expressly adopting E.O. 77.
- Absence of such local legislative authority has led COA to disallow per diem in several municipal AOMs.
11. Tax Treatment
Under Revenue Regulations No. 05-2011, per diem genuinely spent in the performance of duties is not compensation income and therefore not subject to withholding tax—provided receipts or a duly accomplished IOT substantiate the trip. Unliquidated cash advances beyond the 30-day liquidation window, however, are deemed constructive income to the JO and become taxable.
12. Documentation & Liquidation Checklist
Before Travel
- Approved JO contract with travel clause
- Travel order with itinerary and funding source
During Travel
- Receipts for lodging if opting for actuals
- Tickets/boarding passes (for audit trail)
After Travel (within 30 days of return)
- Certificate of travel completion
- Narrative or photo report of outputs/deliverables
- Liquidation report + refund of unspent cash advance
Failure to liquidate bars the JO (and, by extension, their sponsoring office) from receiving further cash advances until cleared, per COA Circular No. 97-002.
13. Policy Pointers for Agencies
- Write it down. Insert a travel-benefit paragraph in every JO needing field work.
- Train approving officers on E.O. 77 caps and NBC updates to avoid over-payment.
- Maintain a JO travel registry so auditors can match contracts, orders, and liquidation reports.
- Review necessity annually. Long-term JOs performing core functions should be regularised or shifted to Contract of Service (COS) categories that allow fuller—but still limited—benefits.
14. Conclusion
Per diem is not an automatic entitlement of job-order personnel. It becomes lawful only when:
- Allowed by the travel-allowance issuance (E.O. 77 et al.), and
- Expressly provided in a duly approved contract and corresponding travel authority, and
- Processed and liquidated in conformity with COA documentary standards and DBM rate ceilings.
When those three conditions line up, agencies may confidently send their JO workers to the field—paid, legitimate, and audit-proof. Without them, per diem is an audit pitfall waiting to happen.