Capitol workers to hold 'boodle fight

THE officials of the Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees (PACE) will hold a 'boodle fight' in the Capitol on Wednesday to press the Provincial Board to act on the fourth tranche of their salary increase.

PACE chairman Engineer Ruben Diamante said that, as of last night, they have been meeting with the officials of Capitol employees union to finalize their plans.

They plan to hold the activity in front of the Capitol from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. today, Wednesday, before the SP holds its regular session.

PACE has been asserting that they are just after for the salary increase and additional bonus of P20,000 for each employee and that they were caught between the warring political rivals in the province.

The salary increase and additional bonus could not be released unless the 2013 provincial budget is approved.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) through Director IV Myrna Chua opined that the fourth tranche salary increase of the Negros Occidental provincial government employees took effect January 1, 2013, notwithstanding the date of the approval of the 2013 budget of the province, provided that the Personnel Services (PS) limitation of the province has not been exceeded.

The DBM's opinion is in answer to the queries of Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko in clarification of the confusion about the effectivity of the salary increase of the Capitol employees after the SP failed to act on the budget until this time.

The DBM said that consistent with Section 320 of Republic Act 7160 which explicitly states that the ordinance enacting the annual budget shall take effect at the beginning of the ensuing calendar year, and that the SP of Negros Occidental has determined that the implementation of the 4th tranche salary schedule shall take effect FY 2013.

The 2013 budget is now being deliberated by the Committee on Finance and that it is not yet certain if the SP will already proceed with its regular session today.

The SP has not proceeded with its regular session for the last four sessions already, as Board Member Miller Serondo has been invoking the provision of the Local Government Code which states that the SP could not take up other matters aside from the budget during its regular session after they failed to enact the 2013 budget.