Congress urged to resolve conflict on government pay hike

MANILA, Philippines - Some congressmen yesterday urged the Senate and the House of Representatives to resolve their conflict on the proposed salary increase for the more than 1.5 million government personnel.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said leaders of the two chambers could use the month-long Christmas break to meet informally to discuss how the impasse could be broken.

Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez also said there has to be a way to quickly resolve the stalemate between the two chambers.

A key member of the House appropriations committee said the failure of the lawmakers to resolve the issue could mean that no pay hike will be given to government personnel in January.

The two chambers are at odds on whether the program would cover tens of thousands of retirees from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

In proposing the informal discussions, Albano said both the House and the Senate could work swiftly to approve the proposed four-year pay hike program when it reconvenes in mid-January.

“Our government workers are already expecting to receive the increase starting on Jan. 1. But now, the earliest we can approve this is the third week of next month, if the conflict is resolved soon,” he said.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), which drafted the bill containing the salary adjustment plan, did not include AFP and PNP retirees as increasing their pension would bloat the already huge cost the increase would entail.

The House and the Senate were originally scheduled to pass the bill last Wednesday, the last session day this year.

Congressmen, who have adopted the DBM-drafted bill, passed it on Dec. 9. The senators, however, reconsidered approving a similar version on Tuesday because they wanted to include the AFP and PNP retirees in the salary increase.

Romualdez said the funding for the salary increase, excluding the increase on the retirees’ pension, is already included in the proposed P3.002-trillion 2016 national budget.

He agreed with Albano that state workers have been expecting to receive a pay hike starting Jan. 1.

“In fact, I would not be surprised if they already included it in their calculation of monthly income and expenses. I hope it will retroact to the start of the New Year,” he said.

The House appropriations committee member, who refused to be identified, said the House version is less problematic than that of the Senate, “but if senators adopt our bill, then AFP and PNP retirees will get no increase in pension.”

“If the Senate insists on its version and the House stands pat on the bill it passed, then there will be no bill that we can pass. One chamber has to give in. If we accept the Senate version, then we have to find the funding source for the billions that will go to increased pension. We also have to pass a bill appropriating it, since it is obvious that it could no longer be included in the 2016 budget, which we have already approved,” he said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has said the salary adjustment program would cost taxpayers P226 billion over four years. But Sen. Ralph Recto estimates that the amount would be more than twice as much.

Recto reckons that if the first-year cost is P58 billion, the amount included in the 2016 budget, then the minimum total appropriation needed over four years is P232 billion.

“The first-year cost is carried on the second, third and fourth years. The second-year expense is carried on the third and fourth years, and so on. Our initial calculation is that the increase will entail a funding of at least P500 billion over four years,” a member of the senator’s staff told The STAR.

According to Abad, the pay hike would cost taxpayers P57.906 billion in 2016, P54.393 billion in 2017, P65.976 billion in 2018, and P47.544 billion in 2019, for a total of P225.82 billion.

Recto’s staff said the amounts Abad quoted for 2017, 2018 and 2019 apparently represented annual incremental costs.