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WITH or
without a rice shortage, the 1.2 million government
employees are getting a wage increase this year.
The
assurance was made Monday by Lakas Rep. Edcel Lagman,
chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations,
saying that the P41-billion Miscellaneous Personnel
Benefits (MPB) was included in the enacted 2008
P1.227-trillion budget.
Lagman
issued the statement even as he scored accusations by
some sectors that President Arroyo’s move to increase
government workers’ salaries was a smoke screen to the
current food crisis.
“The
planned increase in the basic salary of all government
workers was already in the pipeline even before the
reported crisis broke out,” said Lagman.
Meanwhile, President Arroyo Monday urged sectors that
have posted substantial earnings to spread their good
fortune through nonwage benefits to their employees.
Speaking
at the anniversary of the cityhood of Malabon City in
front of the rebuilt city hall, the President said such
benefits could be in the form of food items or free
transportation to help ease the impact of rising oil and
food prices on ordinary workers.
“We
encourage and urge big private companies to make
available to their employees nonwage benefits like rice,
canned goods, shuttle service and others benefits,
especially specific sectors which have posted big
earnings like the telecommunications sector, and oil
companies and others,” she said.
She said
the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (Pafmil),
for example, had done its part by providing cheap bread
or “Tinapay ng Bayan” to poor communities, which is
partly subsidized by Pafmil.
The
President said the government is “totally sensitive to
the fact that a large segment of the Philippine
population is price-sensitive,” which is why she had
ordered measures to stabilize rice supply in the country
“long before the headlines.”
She
added: “We feel deeply for our poorest who one minute
are doing well and moving up the ladder but then almost
overnight, are subjected to pain and setback as a result
of high fuel and rice prices. We have seen this coming
for some time now—certainly before the world took
notice.”
The
President said that as part of her three-step program to
contain rice prices and avert any crisis, the government
coordinated with schools, churches, and local
governments for the distribution of National Food
Authority (NFA) rice in depressed communities.
Meanwhile, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei
Fajardo said “appropriate measures” are in place to keep
family access cards—which will allow only qualified
families to avail themselves of P18.25 per kilo NFA
rice–from being misused.
But she
added that Social Welfare Secretary Espranza Cabral has
reminded the people to be “vigilant” and has asked local
leaders to ensure that family access cards “go to the
right beneficiaries, that [they] will not be abused and
used for the interest of the few, but for those who need
them most.”
As for
the pay hike for State workers, the P12-billion budget
for that would be taken from the P41 billion MPB (for
Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits) approved by Congress.
Besides this, Lagman said the fund will also be used to
pay for the pension of the workers.
“This is
a planned action to help our government workers and not
reactionary to the looming crisis,” Lagman stressed.
Relatedly, Lakas Rep. Anton Lagdameo of Davao del Norte
appealed to government to include the employees of local
government units (LGUs) and state corporations in the
planned wage increase similar to EO 611 issued last
year.
“In this
case, the Internal Revenue Allotment of towns, cities,
provinces and barangays in the amount of P210.7 billion
this year should be released on time, so they will know
if they can give the increase in full or just a
fraction of it,” said Lagdameo. |
