THE leadership of the House of Representatives has rejected the proposal of a lawmaker to amend the proposed 2015 Salary Standardization Law (SSL).
Majority Leader and Liberal Party Rep. Neptali Gonzales II of the lone District of Mandaluyong said the proposal of Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers to increase the salaries for the bulk of government employees “will kill the SSL 2015.”
“It’s easier said than done. We have to be realistic what was provided for under the budget. At this point, it’s hard to make any adjustment to SSL 2015. His [Tinio] proposal will effectively kill the bill,” the majority leader said in a recent interview.
Earlier, Tinio urged the House of Representatives to reconsider its approval on second reading of the SSL 2015, or House Bill 6268, and admit his proposal to increase the salaries for the bulk of lower-rank employees.
The bill is calendared for third and final reading by the Lower House starting last Monday. “The House approved SSL 2015 without changing even slightly the paltry hikes proposed by Malacañang for the vast majority of those working in government,” Tinio said.
“After three years of not having salary increases, hundreds of thousands of rank-and-file government employees are furious that Congress gave its stamp of approval to this highly unjust bill,” he said.
In his debates against the bill, Tinio said SSL 2015 will increase the basic salaries of teachers and nurses by a measly P2,205 over four years, or 11.89 percent higher than their current pay (entry-level, Salary Grade 11, from P18,549 to P20,754). This amounts to additional finances of only P24 per day for these professionals.