DAVAO CITY — Party-list group Anakpawis today criticized the Aquino administration for ensuring that it would get the lion’s share under the proposed Salary Standardization Law of 2015 (SSL 2015) with an allotted budget of P226 billion.
Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Fernando Hicap said in a statement that the government salary hike would benefit most the high ranking government officials, including Pres. Aquino.
He said the proposed salary hike would only give a measly 11.8 percent for ordinary government workers. It would translate “to a raise from P9,000 to only P11,068 for a Salary Grade 1 state worker.”
“On the other hand, Pres. Aquino, a salary grade 33 level government official will have an increase in his salary by a whopping 76.9 percent in four years, making his monthly salary up from P128,000 to P388,000,” he said.
“The salary hike for government employees are timely and just which will give ordinary state workers to cope with the rising cost of basic needs and services. But this is not all due to the concern to state workers by the Aquino administration, it was a product of their collective assertion, they do not owe an ounce of debt of gratitude to the government,” he said.
The group believes the administration is pushing government salary hike “to advance its political agenda to boost Mar Roxas presidential candidacy.”
He said aside from increased salaries, high ranking officials enjoy other perks and bonuses compared to ordinary state workers.
According Ibon Foundation, the ideal salary of a worker should be at least P23,892 a month. But in reality, the salary of government employees is only pegged at P9,000 a month. Ibon also said that from 2012, when the last tranche of the Salary Standardization Law III was given to government employees, the value of peso has eroded to 73 centavos.
“It means that the real value of P9,000 salary of government employee is only P6,570,” said Hicap.
Anakpawis also filed HB 3015 or the P6000 salary increase for government workers. (davaotoday.com)
