Sunday, January 21, 2007 Bill on pay hike for state employees to be filed on Monday
IN AN APPARENT bid to woo some 1.5 million government workers to support the administration’s senatorial bets in the May elections, Malacañang will file in Congress on Monday a bill seeking to increase their salaries.
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. announced this a day after Malacañang ordered its information agencies to trumpet the government’s “achievements” to help its bets win this May.
“July ang ine-envision dito. At first round of salary increase pa lang yan. May darating pa hanggang matapos ang termino ng ating mahal na pangulo (It will be effective in July. And that’s just the first round. There will be more salary increases until the term of our beloved president ends in 2010),” Andaya said on government-run radio station dzRB.
He said he will ask senators and congressmen to pass the measure before Congress takes a break in February in time for the campaign period.
Once passed, he said the first round of pay increases will increase workers’ pay by 10 percent.
Andaya said the first round of salary increases will likely cost government P10.3 billion but the total budget for the salary increases until 2010 may cost up to P90 billion.
“Yan ang gusto ng ating mahal na Pangulo, ang unang asikasuhin kung magkaroon ng economic boom tulungan ang kawani ng gobyerno na nagtrabaho para gumanda ang takbo ng ekonomiya (That is what our beloved president wants, to help the government employees who helped run our economy well),” he said.
He added that there is no more excuse for Congress to stall the bill saying it is only one page long. Besides, he added, there are enough funds for it.
“Huwag na nila isipin ang pondo, sagot namin yan, ready na kami. Pahintulot na lang hinihintay. Ang pondo di problema yan (They should not think of the funding. We’ve got it covered. All we ask for is the authority to spend it),” he said.
Meanwhile, Andaya said his department will soon issue guidelines to agencies not to under-spend lest they risk getting a smaller budget the next year.
He said some agencies tend to under-spend and perform poorly, declare the unspent budget as “savings”.
Andaya said his department is planning a quarterly monitoring of spending but will have the agencies submit their own proposed schedule of spending. (JMR/Sunnex)
