THE vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations on Friday said the Salary Standardization Law (SSL 4) “is in coma” after both houses of Congress went on an election recess without reconciling the conflicting provision of the bill.
National Unity Party Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur, member of the congressional bicameral committee tackling the SSL 4, however, said President Aquino can bring the pay-hike bill to life through a presidential order.
“After all, there’s already a P57.9- billion appropriation in the 2016 national budget. The budget cover is already in place. Any EO [executive order] he will therefore issue will just flesh out the spending authority Congress had already given,” he said. The P57.9-billion budget has been included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2016.
“However, any EO coming from him will just be coterminous with this budget. It’s effectivity will expire at the end of the year. It is just an interim measure so that government workers will enjoy the pay hike as stipulated in SSL 4,” said Andaya, former secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Republic Act 6758, or the Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989, and Presidential Decree 1597 grant the Chief Executive the power to adjust public-sector compensation.
Andaya, meanwhile, said the next administration should refile the SSL 4 in the next Congress to make salary adjustment permanent.
“This is a window of opportunity for all stakeholders to propose improvement to the bill. The presidential power to set new pay rates in government was used by all president from [Presidents Ferdinand] Marcos to [Gloria] Arroyo,”
The bicameral conference between the two chambers of Congress was deadlocked after the Senate panel, led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, insisted on a provision that would index the pension of military retirees to the salary increases provided for under SSL 4.
The House panel objected because of lack of funding. The Senate proposal would cost taxpayers an additional P18 billion for the first year of implementation.
Meanwhile, Majority Leader and Liberal Party Rep. Neptali Gonzales II of Mandayulong said Congress may still approve the SSL 4 when session resumes from May 23 to June 10, or after presidential and local elections.
“Don’t think life of Congress will end after this adjournment, we will resume session in May,” he said.
The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading on December 9 last year SSL 4, principally authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., which modifies the compensation and position classification system of civilian government personnel, and the base pay schedule of military and uniformed personnel in the government to be implemented in four tranches, starting January 2016. The Senate approved its own version, Senate Bill 2671, on third and final reading on January 18.
Earlier, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the SSL will be implemented through a combination of a salary increase, a 14th-month pay and an enhanced performance-based bonus to be implemented over a four-year period, from January 2016 to January 2019.
Abad explained SSL 4 is based on Joint Resolution 4 enacted by Congress in 2009, mandating the review of the compensation and position classification system after three years from the last year of the adjustment to determine the competitiveness of government pay in relation to the private sector and the compensation strategy to bring government pay closer to market rate.
Abad said the last tranche of the previous salary increase was completed in July 2012. He said despite the substantial duties and responsibilities of public servants, their salaries stand only at 55 percent, or around half, of current market rates.
Image credits: AP/Silvia Izquierdo