WITH only nine session days remaining, House leaders on Sunday put pressure anew on President Benigno Aquino III to certify as urgent the proposed Salary Standardization Law to skip several procedures that might delay its passage in the Senate.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., along with San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora’s minority bloc and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez’s independent minority bloc, supported the immediate passage of the bill to allow the 1.53-million state workers benefit from salary hike as early as January.
Romualdez insisted there was no reason for the President to dilly-dally and all the more no reason not to show his “malasakit” in having the SSL bill approved since the budget department has already allocated P57 billion to fund the salary increases on its first year of implementation.
The bill calls for a four-year series of pay hikes that will entail the government a total of P226 billion. On the first year of the law’s implementation, the President’s salary is pegged at P160,924 and will increase to almost P400,000 in the fourth year under Salary Grade 33.
However, President Aquino, who will step down on June 30, 2016, will no longer enjoy the series of increases.
The House leaders have renewed their commitment to immediately pass on third and final reading the proposed SSL and the granting of 14th month pay during the first year of its implementation in 2016.
As Congress resumes its sessions Monday, senatorial candidate Romualdez, Belmonte, and House Majority Leader Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II stressed the need to catch up on the passage of important legislations after the four-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit last Nov. 18 to 22 made the priority list take a back seat.
“We are committed to pass this very important legislation to extend malasakit to our state workers. They really need economic relief to decently support their basic needs,” Romualdez stressed.
But Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association, underscored the need to give more “malasakit” to ordinary workers like teachers and nurses by further increasing the salary of low-level and middle-level employees.
“We should further examine the measure by pushing higher increas than the proposed offers for low-level and middle-level employees like teachers and nurses because they need better pay the most,” Romualdez,
head of the House Independent Minority Bloc, pointed out.
“I suggest to reduce the performance-based bonus so that we can generate funds to support their basic salary instead to show them more malasakit,” Romualdez, who chairs the House committee on ethics during the previous Congress, added.
Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III urged his colleagues to diligently attend the remaining sessions of the 16th Congress so they can leave a legacy of being a working and productive Congress.
“So much to do with very little time left. But we must do our utmost,” Albano said.
Earlier, the House approved House Bill 6268 or SSL 2015 on second reading immediately after the House committee on appropriations passed it on the same day after a single hearing.
Belmonte and Gonzales assured the third reading approval of the measure once the House received the President’s certification and muster enough quorum.
“We will immediately approve this very important bill on third and final reading,” Belmonte had said to the dismay of the House members as the promised Palace certification had failed to materialize.
A bill that is certified as urgent by the President could be passed on third and final reading on the same day or shortly after it was approved on second reading. The same rule applies to the Senate.
In a regular legislation process, House rules provide that the bill should first be printed out after three session days that it was approved on second reading, distribute it to all members to study it for passage on third.
Once it was certified also as urgent, the bicameral conference committee of both houses no longer had to debate and reconcile the two versions.
The proposed SSL bill was drafted by the Department of Budget and Management. It was a Palace-proposed bill.
“When we resume, there is quorum and certification, we can approve it on third reading,” Gonzales said.
The SSL 2015 will modify the compensation and position classification system of civilian government personnel and the base pay schedule of military and uniformed personnel.
The measure will increase the salary of all government workers and would grant them a 14th month pay in a form of mid-year bonus.
Under Salary Grades 1 to 11 that comprises around 606,000 state workers (52 percent of the government workforce), the measure provides that they will also enjoy a tax-free 14th month pay and performance-based bonus.
Those under Salary Grades 1 to 11 earn around P9,000 to P20,000 per month under the proposed SSL 2015.
Belmonte, Gonzales, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, who chairs the House committee on appropriations, Zamora, and Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona, who chairs the House committee on accounts, were authors of HB 6268 to push for the salary increase.
Gonzales said it was necessary to pass the bill since the funding for the salary increase of the government workers is included in the proposed 2016 P3.002-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
Ungab said the salary standardization will be implemented next year and will require a total funding of P57.9 billion on the first year.
On top of the 14th month pay, the average lowest increase in the first year of implementation is almost P500 monthly under Salary Grade 1 or from the present P9,000 to P9,478 during the first year and will reach P11,068 in the fourth year.