Senate approves supplemental budget

Government employees are now assured of a five percent increase in their salaries starting next month with the Senate’s approval yesterday of the bicameral conference committee report on the P1.9-billion supplemental budget for 2001.

The approval of the supplemental budget was stalled the other day by newly re-elected Sen. Sergio Osmeña III who objected to the allocation of P22.5 million for the additional operational requirements of the Senate. The amount was to be deducted from P4.15 billion allotted for the increase in miscellaneous benefits of go-vernment personnel.

Sen. John Osmeña, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, resolved his first cousin’s objections by removing the additional Senate budget and restoring the miscellaneous personnel be-nefit.

The vote for the bicameral report was 10-0 with no abstentions.

"Nobody in the Senate is against the increase in the salary of government personnel. Actually, the government workers are even at a losing end because the salary increase is only five percent while the inflation rate is 5.6 percent," John Osmeña said.

Earlier, he agreed to give way to the House version calling for the salary increase to be effective only starting July. He was previously insistent on making the pay hike retroactive to January, but the supplemental budget of P3.8 billion for the increase will cover six months only or until this month. He said that the additional budget of another P3.8 billion for the July-December salaries would come from the proposed 2002 budget.

Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, however, convinced Osmeña to reconsider, saying the government would have difficulty getting the needed funds for the salary increase from July to December this year.

Aside from the P3.8 billion for the salary increase of government employees, the P10.9-billion supplemental budget is also supposed to fund the following: miscellaneous personnel benefits, including retirement benefits, P4.15 billion; upgrading of salaries of policemen, P1.45 billion; foreign assisted projects, P1 billion, and increase in pensions of veterans, P500 million.