A measure authorizing the increase in the base pay of military and uniformed personnel (MUP) in the government is now inching its way to become a law, as the House of Representatives on Monday approved on final reading House Joint Resolution 18.
Voting 167-4, the House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading House Joint Resolution 18 that will modify the existing base pay of around 381,381 military and uniformed personnel nationwide.
The resolution will double the base pay of a Police Officer (PO) 1 in the Philippine National Police, a private in the Department of National Defense and equivalent ranks in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine Public Safety College, Philippine Coast Guard and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria).
A PO 1 will enjoy a 100-percent increase in monthly base pay from the current P14,834 to P29,668 effective January 1, 2018.
The national government will tap P64.24 billion from its coffers to fund the salary hike.
For the other ranks, the increase in base pay will be calibrated resulting in an average increase of 58.70 percent for all ranks.
As to the indexation of the pension of retired MUP with the base pay of those in the active service, House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Karlo Alexie B. Nograles of the First District of Davao City, one of the principal authors of the measure, said that while the joint resolution suspends the indexation with respect to the base-pay increase, the suspension of indexation will be automatically lifted on January 1, 2019.
While supporting the passage of the resolution, Party-list Rep. Gary G. Alejano of Magdalo, meanwhile, raised some concerns, specifically about the suspension of the indexation provision for retirees’ pension provided in the bill.
Alejano said veterans, like personnel in active duty, deserve the same increase in benefits that the state would provide.
‘Since then, the resolution has been amended to include a provision that would repeal the suspension after 1 year. This means that the suspension shall automatically be lifted on January 1, 2019 or upon effectivity if a pension reform law – whichever comes earlier,” he added.
“The sooner our veterans and retirees can enjoy the same increase on their pensions, the better. The Magdalo vows to keep track the progress of the joint resolution and its implementation thereafter,” he said.
To this end, the Magdalo lawmaker sees this as a good opportunity for the current administration and House leadership to hasten the passage of a pension reform law.
Alejano also suggested the review of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL), submitted in 2015, which pushes for the increase in base pay of all government employees.
ACT Teachers Representatives Antonio Tinio and France Castro also pushed for salary increases for all government employees including civilian personnel.
“Government employees cannot rely on the administration’s promise that ‘darating tayo diyan’ because civilians in the bureaucracy also need substantial salary increases now. We have long been demanding for this, but the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) would always answer ‘no budget.’ But now, there’s suddenly a huge budget of P40 billion for MUP,” Tinio said.
The legislators said the P40 billion which the Duterte administration quickly found for MUP is almost the same as the P50 billion needed per tranche of the salary increase for all employees under Executive Order 201 or Salary Standardization Law 4.
“This shows that government can provide the budget if they want to,” Tinio added.
“The P19,000 salary for Teacher I is very far from the standard family living wage of P1,145 per day. Due to the meager salary, teachers are forced to shell out from usurious loans. Teachers buy their own teaching materials. These are the hard conditions of teachers and the rest of the civilian bureaucracy which make salary increases for them a just demand,” Castro added.
1 comment
Together with the salary increase of all government employees, the civil service laws should be amended also for easier termination of non performing employees of the govt.