SENATORIAL candidate and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Monday lauded the passage of a bill at a committee level that will increase the salary of government workers.
The House committee on appropriations approved the pproposed Salary Standardization Law of 2015 for the benefit of some 1.5-million government employees, which include public school teachers, soldiers and policemen.
The SSL of 2015 or House Bill No. 6268 proposed a P226-million fund for the new round of salary increase for government personnel. The bill, drafted by the Department of Budget and Management, will be implemented over a period of fours years beginning 2016.
The Leyte lawmaker said the passage of the SSL shows compassion to ordinary Filipino workers. “Yan ang tunay na malasakit sa ordinaryong Pilipino, selfless workers who should have long been rewarded,” he said.
Aside from the increase in salary, Romualdez pushed for the passage of proposed measures that aim to reduce personal and corporate income taxes even as Malacañang has rejected such proposals.
“As lawmakers, we should not stop finding ways on how to help the plight of the workers to show our compassion to them,” said Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association.
Another lawmaker sought the reduction of the income tax on individuals based on the consumer price index.
Rep. Raneo Abu proposed the inflation-linked tax cut under House Bill 6258, saying that the tax relief will enable taxpayers to cope with rising prices of basic commodities.