House, Senate agree on final version of 2016 budget

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives and the Senate agreed yesterday on the final version of the proposed P3.002-trillion 2016 national budget.

The agreement was reached by the conference committee on the budget jointly chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, House appropriations committee chairman, and his Senate counterpart, Loren Legarda.

Ungab said Senate and House conferees will sign the committee report today.

He said the two chambers are set to approve the reconciled version of the budget next week before Congress goes on its month-long Christmas recess.

“This would allow President Aquino to sign the budget bill before the end of the year so there would be no need to reenact this year’s outlay,” he added.

“The Senate will ratify the budget this Wednesday and it will be with the President by next week so before Christmas day, this will already be signed into law,” Senate President Franklin Drilon, for his part, said.

Drilon said one of the key features of the 2016 national budget is the P57 billion allocated for the increase in the salaries of government workers next year.

The Senate is currently working on the latest version of the Salary Standardization Law, which Congress is required to pass in order to implement the pay increase.

A 22-percent increase in the budget of the Department of Education was also carried in the 2016 national budget, which would cover the implementation of the K to 12 program.

“The Department of Public Works and Highways will have a budget worth around P382 billion, the Department of Health will get around P124 billion while the Department of National Defense will get P126 billion,” Drilon said.

Drilon clarified that the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s budget for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or the conditional cash transfer program remains intact.

Reacting to a report that P8 billion has been removed by the Senate from the budget for the CCT program, Drilon explained the removal was proposed under the Senate’s version but the allocation was reinstated during the bicameral meetings.

Drilon said that he was personally not in favor of reducing the budget for the CCT because it would deprive millions of poor families of these conditional cash grants.

The Senate moved around a total of P18.5 billion in the proposed budgets of the various departments and agencies from the version approved by the House.

Pay hike

Also scheduled for approval next week is the proposed salary increase for the 1.5 million government personnel.

Public school teachers, who comprise the single largest sector in the bureaucracy, are complaining about the “meager” adjustment they would receive.

They are set to undertake protest actions today.

Party-list group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), which represents teachers in the House, said its members sought “a decent wage increase but received alms instead.”

It said the adjustment proposed for them by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is equivalent to P25 per day over four years starting next year.

“We are aghast with this proposal. This is not an increase but is rather a testament to the total disregard of the administration to our poor plight. We are asking for a substantial increase and not for alms,” it said.

Under the DBM-recommended salary adjustment program, the President, the highest-paid official, will get an increase of nearly P280,000 a month, while the lowest-paid state worker will receive just a small fraction of that – a little over P2,000.

The salary of President Aquino’s successor will soar from 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.

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

Next to the President in terms of pay are four officials who hold Salary Grade 32. They are the Vice President, Senate president, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the chief justice. Their salary will go up from P103,000 to P353,470.

Salary Grade 31 is assigned to Cabinet members, senators and congressmen, justices of the Supreme Court (SC) and chairmen of constitutional commissions. Their pay will increase from P90,000 to P295,191.

According to a Commission on Audit report on gross compensation received by officials in 2014, Cabinet members earned from P1.7 million to P3.2 million, including allowances.

SC justices took home between P4 million and P6.3 million. The bulk of their compensation was in the form of allowances. As members of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, which is the Supreme Court itself, they drew allowances of nearly P1 million, which was almost the same amount as their basic salary.

Also holding Salary Grade 31 are certain officials like the Senate secretary, House secretary general and secretary of the Commission on Appointments.

Undersecretaries and chiefs of staff of senators, plus a few other bureaucrats, hold Salary Grade 30. Their pay will jump from P78,946 to P196,206.

Sen. Ralph Recto has proposed that the new round of salary adjustment be confined to Salary Grades 11, 12 and 13.

He said most government personnel, including teachers, are clustered around these three salary grades.

Teachers hold Salary Grade 11. Under the proposed DBM-proposed salary increase program, their pay will go up from P18,459 to P20,754 or by P2,295 over four years.

Holders of Salary Grade 12 will have an increase of P3,000, from P19,940 to P22,938.

Those holding Salary Grade 13 will receive an additional P3,800, from P21,436 to P25,232.

At present rates, holders of Salary Grade 24 and higher have a basic pay of at least P50,000. Under the DBM plan, Salary Grade 24 will provide a monthly pay of P83,406.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said it is the lowly employees, not the president, lawmakers, Cabinet members and justices, who need a bigger salary increase.