Lawmaker seeks doubling of relief allowance for government workers

MANILA, Philippines — Doubling the amount of government subsidy for state workers is urgently needed to augment their earnings amid the continuing rise in the cost of living, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said yesterday.

Estrada, who chairs the Senate committee on labor and employment, said that in view of the continuing rise in inflation, the monthly P2,000 Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) received by government workers is no longer sufficient to achieve its intended purpose.

“It’s about time that this be increased to P4,000 a month to help defray some of the expenses of our government workers, who respond to the call of duty during crises and calamities,” Estrada said in Filipino, noting the higher cost of basic goods and services these days.

In his Senate Bill 1027, the senator proposed the grant of an additional P2,000 in the monthly PERA of government employees and rename it as Augmented Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (APERA).

Covered in the P4,000 monthly APERA are military and uniformed personnel as well as civilian government employees occupying regular, contractual, or casual positions, whether appointive or elective positions.

Those stationed abroad already receiving overseas allowances shall not be entitled to APERA, the bill stated.

First granted in 1990 to all government employees to cushion the impact of price increases brought about by the Gulf War, the monthly P500 PERA at that time was increased to P2,000 in 2009 to supplement government workers’ salaries due to the rising cost of living.

“With the continued rise of prices of commodities and gasoline, the P2,000 Personnel Economic Relief Allowance is definitely not enough to help them tide over the financial difficulties,” Estrada said.