President to get P280,000 salary hike

MANILA, Philippines – The presidentof the country will get a salary increase of nearly P280,000 in four years, while the lowest-paid state worker will receive just a small fraction of that – a little over P2,000.

This belies the statement of a Palace spokesperson that government employees with low pay would take home bigger adjustments than those with higher salaries.

Under the proposed Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 5 submitted by Malacañang to Congress on Monday, the basic monthly salary of President Aquino’s successor would soar by more than two times, from the present P120,000 to P399,739 in four years.

The President holds Salary Grade 33.

At the bottom of the salary structure is the lowest-paid employee, who holds Salary Grade 1. His basic pay would increase from P9,000 to P11,068 or by P2,068 over the four-year implementation period for the new round of salary upgrading.

According to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, after four years, holders of Salary Grade 1 would be getting the equivalent of 154 percent of their counterparts in the private sector.

That means that they would be receiving 54 percent more than the lowest-paid private sector employee.

By Abad’s calculation, the President’s salary of P399,739 would be about “70 percent of market rates,” which means that the Chief Executive’s monthly pay should be in the neighborhood of P600,000 to bring it at par with the market.

Aquino and incumbent members of Congress will not benefit from the proposed SSL5. They are banned by the Constitution from receiving any salary hike that they approve.

Top priority

Senate President Franklin Drilon assured the public that the proposed SSL5 would be prioritized and approved by the end of the year.

In a statement, Drilon said that the latest iteration of the SSL would be among the priority bills of the Senate for the last two months of the year, alongside the proposed P3.002-trillion national budget for 2016 and the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

“There is really a need to pursue the new version of the Salary Standardization Law to increase the purchasing power of millions of our state workers, who could not cope with the inflation,” Drilon said.

“The new compensation package being sought will fix the glaring discrepancies in the pay schemes between the public and private sectors,” he added. – With Janvic Mateo, Mayen Jaymalin, Marvin Sy, Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez