SENATOR Ralph Recto warned Thursday that scrapping the Magna Carta benefits in the Salary Standardization Law IV would result in a pay cut for 99 percent of employees of the Department of Science and Technology.
The proposed SSL IV includes a provision that would repeal the benefits for scientists, engineers, researchers and other science and technology personnel.
In the second year of the SSL IV’s effectivity, 97 percent of the DoST workforce would continue to be punished with pay cuts, he said.
Recto said this was an example of why Congress must revisit the provision that would remove so-called Magna Carta benefits, not just of scientists, but of social workers, health workers and other government employees.
Both the House and the Senate have passed the Malacañang-proposed SSL IV.
But because their respective versions differ from each other, a bicameral conference committee will meet next week to reconcile the differences.
“There is a tempest brewing in the public sector on the issue of the removal of Magna Carta benefits. I hope we can find ways this can be averted from becoming a full-blown storm. I am optimistic that a win-win solution will be found to the satisfaction of all parties,” Recto said.
He said Section 8 of the bill passed by the House and the Senate states that “these are the benefits authorized for specific officials and employees under Magna Carta laws that may be categorized in the Total Compensation Framework in accordance with the guidelines, rules and regulations to be issued by the Department of Budget and Management.”
“In other words, existing Magna Carta allowances may be considered part of the increases authorized under SSL IV. It means that Magna Carta benefits may be folded into the new salary rate,” Recto said.
He said the Magna Carta benefits that will be scrapped will be determined solely by the Department of Budget and Management.
Also amended under the SSL IV are RA 4670, the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers; RA 7305, the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers; RA 8439, the Magna Carta for Scientists, Engineers, Researchers and Other S&T Personnel; and RA 9443, the Magna Carta for Social Workers.
Under the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, teachers assigned in hardship stations get hazard pay equivalent to at least 25 percent of their monthly pay.
RA 7305, on the other hand, grants public health workers “on call” pay, night-shift differential, subsistence allowance, remote assignment and hazard allowance, among others.
Government scientists and researchers are entitled to hazard pay, longevity pay, and royalties from their invention, as prescribed by RA 8439.
The Magna Carta for Public Social Workers grants frontline Department of Social Welfare and Development personnel “on call, hazard, and overtime pay” plus subsistence and transportation allowance.
Recto has written to the Senate conferees in the bicameral conference to consider inserting a provision in the SSL IV which calls for the “non-diminution of benefits currently received under existing Magna Carta laws.”
But the Palace said Thursday the Magna Carta benefits would not be removed under SSL IV.
“There is no provision in the proposed SSL IV that Magna Carta benefits will be removed. The only provision there is that DBM, in coordination with agencies concerned, shall determine the conditions and rates in the grant of these benefits. Said provisions are likewise in Joint Resolution No. 4 or SSL III,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said in a statement.
A study by DoST employees said the scrapping of Magna Carta benefits will result in 98.72 percent of science and technology personnel getting a pay reduction in the first year of SSL IV’s implementation.
“If you are a scientist and your salary is P24,000 and you get P8,000 in benefits, you would gross P32,000. But if you remove the benefits and you raise the salary to P30,000, you have already suffered a pay cut,” Recto said.