The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Thursday the proposed executive order (EO) that authorizes the first wave of salary increases for government employees this year will be submitted to President Aquino in “a few days.”
Budget Undersecretary Richard E. Moya said the DBM is being “extra careful” about its proposal to fund the first tranche of salary increases for government workers which draws funding from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund in the 2016 national budget.
The first wave of salary increases amounting to P57.91 billion would have been effected by the Salary Standardization Law 4 (SSL 4) proposal which still pends in Congress and believed to have been shelved for when a new government shall have been organized after the May elections. The Senate and the House of Representatives are deadlocked on the issue.
The deadlock consisted of the Senate’s insistence on including the indexation of the pensions of retired police and military personnel that would, in effect, increase their monthly pensions by the same amount given to police and military personnel in active service.
Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the indexation would entail additional costs amounting to some P19 billion in the first year of increase alone.
The forthcoming EO however, should still not include the indexation of pensions of retired police and military officers with the resulting increased salaries of those in the active service, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon said.
In a recent briefing at the Senate, Drilon, who is also the vice chairman of the Liberal Party, said he proposed that President Aquino issue an EO to effect the promised hike in the salaries of government workers for 2016. Observers claimed the matter is politically motivated to gain favor among some 1.53 million government employees. But the indexation of the pensions of retired police and military personnel would not be included in the EO because the measure does not have a clear source of funding.
“My suggestion is that the President exercises his authority to grant increases in the salary
because there is already authority under the General Appropriations Act. My suggestion is that the President issues an executive order which would mandate the payment of salary increases for 2016, because that is only where the appropriation is available and study how we can fund the indexation of the payments for our retired pensioners,” Drilon said.