MANILA, Philippines - Based on the principle of “equal pay for work of equal value,” the House of Representatives is set to double President Arroyo’s monthly pay to P120,000.
Lawmakers would also double their own basic salary to P90,000.
The chamber was scheduled to start floor deliberations last night on a new salary standardization program for government personnel, which calls for substantial increases in their basic salaries.
The program is contained in Joint Resolution 36, the approval of which was on top of the agenda of a majority caucus called by Speaker Prospero Nograles yesterday afternoon.
Nograles told reporters after the caucus that he and his colleagues would try to approve the resolution today.
Though the measure urges Mrs. Arroyo to implement a new salary adjustment scheme for government officials and employees starting July 1 this year, it already fixes the new pay rates for state personnel. The increase would be paid in installments.
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. earlier announced that government workers would receive a 10-percent salary increase beginning on July 1.
Andaya said funds for the adjustment are included in the P1.4-trillion 2009 national budget.
Though Resolution 36 doubles the monthly pay of members of Congress, incumbent senators and congressmen are prohibited by the Constitution from receiving the hefty adjustment as they cannot benefit from their legislation.
Congressmen hold sessions for two to three hours Monday through Wednesday. Senators work up to Thursday.
Aside from their basic pay, House members receive allowances for travel and district office expenses. All told, they get between P300,000 to P350,000 a month.
Aside from salaries and allowances, pork barrel funds of P200 million a year are allocated for each senator and P70 million for each House member.
Resolution 36 would also double the salary of Vice President Noli de Castro to P103,000.
Undersecretaries would receive P78,946, assistant secretaries, P73,099; and directors, P67,684. The new rates represent an increase of more than 100 percent.
The lowest pay in government would be adjusted from about P5,000 to P9,000.
Aside from equal pay for work of equal value, the proposed huge adjustments are based on the principles that government salaries should be comparable to those in the private sector and that the rates “shall be kept modest in recognition of fiscal realities.”
Congressmen are proposing the hefty increases even in the wake of a soaring budget deficit that is projected to hit an unprecedented level of P270 billion this year.
Nograles said other measures that the House would approve before its June 3 adjournment include the Reproductive Health Bill, the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, Charter change measures, and the Right to Reply Bill.