P13.2 B set aside for gov't pay hike

Congress has set aside P13.2 billion in the P629-billion 2000 budget for the 10 percent across-the-board salary increase of the more than one million government employees.

Local government units and government corporations may also grant a 10 percent increase if they have extra funds.

Deputy Speaker Daisy Fuentes (LAMP, South Cotabato) told reporters yesterday that the adjustment covers all state personnel, including soldiers and policemen.

She said Armed Forces and police personnel may actually receive an increase bigger than 10 percent because they have been left behind in the salary standardization program implemented three years ago.

Rep. Gilberto Duavit (LAMP, Rizal), chairman of the House appropriations committee, said the pay increase will be retroactive to Jan. 1.

He said once President Estrada signs the budget measure into law, the Department of Budget and Management is mandated to issue the guidelines on the payment of the adjustment in consultation with his committee and the Senate finance committee.

The minimum amount that government workers would get would be about P440 since the lowest basic monthly salary in the bureaucracy is P4,400.

Public school teachers will get at least P860. The lowest-paid among them receive a basic monthly pay amounting to P8,605.

Before approving the 2000 outlay, lawmakers gave the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, which President Estrada heads, an additional P50 million for intelligence information gathering.

The commission's intelligence fund was increased from P519 million to P569 million. On top of this huge amount, the Office of the President has its own intelligence budget.

Most of the commission's intelligence money goes to its operational arm, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, which is headed by Philippine National Police chief Deputy Director General Panfilo Lacson in a concurrent capacity.

Lacson's task force has its own separate budget, which this year amounts to P120 million. Half of that amount goes to salaries and operations, while the other half is for intelligence information gathering.