Puno calls on government to prioritize salary hike

Former Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ricardo "Dong" Puno Jr. called on the government Thursday to find ways to allocate funds for the planned five percent salary hike for state workers this year, as he noted that public servants also deserve proper and just compensation just like their counterparts in the private sector.

Puno, who is one of the official senatorial candidates of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, said competitive salary scales should be one of the primary considerations of the government if it is to attract the best and the brightest to the public service.

"If the government can allocate over P8 billion for the military modernization program, I cannot see why it cannot find ways to increase the pay of government workers, even at only five percent, which was what was originally proposed under the national budget for 2001," Puno said.

He issued the statement in response to reports that the planned five percent across-the-board pay hike for government employees would not be granted this year to help curb the growing budget deficit despite the approval of the proposed P725-billion General Appropriations Act for 2001.

Puno, who is running under the slogan Puno ng Pag-asa para sa Masa, pointed out that he will serve the poor not through words, but through action, and help them improve their living conditions not with rhetoric, but with concrete, doable programs.