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Sunday, April 24, 2005
Budget office: no wage hike for gov't workers
MANILA -- Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin said government employees should forget about getting any salary increase within the year due to lack of funds.
Boncodin said there is no provision in the 2005 General Appropriations Act (GAA) for any salary adjustment.
"If there will be (a wage increase), that will require additional funding but at this point, you know how things are, so hindi pa namin masabing magkakaroon (so I can't say there will be). We are guided by the budget," she said.
She added that any proposed salary adjustment would have to be studied first.
Asked if revenues to be generated from the recently passed revenue measures like the "sin" tax law and the Lateral Attrition Act could be used for the government employees' salary raise, Boncodin said the revenue to be collected from them had already been included in the 2005 budget.
She added that the revenues are expected to start trickling in only on the fourth quarter of this year.
On a possible inclusion of the wage increase in a supplemental budget, Boncodin said it would be difficult to draw up a supplemental budget for this year.
"First, when we have a supplemental budget, you must collect. It cannot be based on an estimate of an amount to be collected. So you first collect, then you report and then that's how we can submit a supplemental budget," she said.
On the proposal of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines to reduce the income tax exemptions to cushion the impact of rising costs on regular workers, Boncodin said the tax code should first be amended. The amendment would have to come form Congress. (JMR)
(April 24, 2005 issue)
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