DOJ to create fund to raise prosecutors’ salaries

Prosecutors and other lawyers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) will get a 100 percent raise in pay once Congress passes into law a bill seeking to allocate the money from filing fees.

Acting Justice Secretary Mercedita Gutierrez said the bill proposes higher filing fees on cases at the DOJ to raise money for the salary increase.

"It will depend on fees that we would be able to collect and generate," she said. "It would not be a burden to the ordinary people because most of those filing these kinds of cases can afford to pay anyway."

Gutierrez said the Senate and House of Representatives have passed on second reading their different versions of the bill.

"We are very sure the bill would be passed into law," she said.

Gutierrez said prosecutors, on the average, receive a monthly salary of P22,000, and after the bill is passed into law, their pay would jump to P44,000 a month.

"Maybe we could not immediately give the 100 percent increase upon the approval of the law, but we would be able to do so after a while," she said. "Maybe on a staggered basis."

Gutierrez said money raised from the hiked fees would be deposited in a trust fund to be administered jointly by the DOJ and the Department of Budget and Management. – Aurea Calica