MANILA – The fourth tranche of increases under the Salary Standardization Law will cost the government P40 billion to P50 billion, the Department of Budget and Management said Monday, maintaining its position not to implement the law until Congress approves the 2019 budget.
DBM assistant secretary Myrna Chua made it clear that the salary increase for government employees could only be funded under the general appropriations act (GAA).
“All (government) jobs are covered by the Salary Standardization Law. There are some GOCCs (government-owned or -controlled corporations) covered also by the SSL. Our estimate is around P45 to P50 billion,” she told reporters during a press conference at the DBM office in Manila.
The Salary Standardization Law states that the monthly salary of entry-level personnel in the teaching profession, or Teacher 1, will increase to P20,754 this year from P20,179.
Chua noted some 1.3 million government workers across the country are be covered the salary increase.
The DBM maintained, however, that Congress must first pass the 2019 budget before the wage hike can be implemented this year.
Citing Executive Order 201 series of 2016, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno noted last week that the salary adjustment may only be implemented “subject to appropriations by Congress.”
“This is the legal basis for the grant of the salary increase in four tranches from 2016 to 2019,” said Chua.
Last week, House Majority Rolando Andaya Jr. also threatened to sue Diokno if the DBM does not implement the salary increase.
“Sue me,” Diokno said in response.
Andaya on Monday made good on his threat, seeking relief from the Supreme Court to compel the Department of Budget and Management and secretary Benjamin Diokno to release the salary adjustment’s fourth tranche.
Andaya and 50 other petitioners filed a 28-page petition for mandamus for the high court to compel Diokno to implement the salary increase under Executive Order 201 signed by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2016.
The petitioners claimed that Diokno and the DBM “lawfully neglected” their ministerial duty to release funds and disburse personnel benefits provided under EO 201.
Congress failed to approve the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget on time. As a result Diokno argued there is “no legal basis for” releasing the fourth tranche of salary adjustments.
The petitioners countered by saying that there is no basis for delaying the release of funds, considering there are “available alternative sources of funds,” including the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Funds (MPBF) and the savings generated from the reenacted 2018 General Appropriations Act.
The DBM only needs P42.7 billion to fund the fourth tranche out of the P99.4 billion it could actually allocate from the MPBF.
In the same press conference Monday, Chua noted that lawmaker have been claiming that the wage increase could be funded by the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF).
However, the Philippines is now operating on a re-enacted budget and the MBPF provisions only cover the third tranche of the salary increase that took effect in 2018. “That appropriation is specific for the third tranche. It really will not cover, cannot cover the fourth tranche of the salary increase,” Chua emphasized. (GMA News)
