BONG REVILLA WANTS 6K WAGE INCREASE FOR GOVT. EMPLOYEES

Protecting the workers' rights for a living wage, Senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. today pushed for the passage of his bill that seeks to grant P6, 0000 increase in the salaries of all public employees in all government offices.

According to Bong Revilla, despite the passage of the Salary Standardization Law 3 (SSL3) , salaries received by public sector employees are way behind the government's conservative estimate of the cost of living a family needs in order to survive. He explained that an employee with the compensation of Salary Grade I Step 1 currently receives P6,861.00 per month which is far from the government's estimated cost of living of 28,710 per month. And even if employees receive the full implementation of SSL 3 next year, the minimum pay shall still only be P9,000.00.

"The situation of employees in local government units is far worse as they receive lower amount because SSL 3 continue to implement the policy of wage regionalization. The current minimum pay reflects the dismal state of public sector workers," said Bong Revilla, who is pushing for the P125 daily across the board increase in the salary of workers in the private sector.

The senator also pointed out the continuous price increase of basic products and utilities, with the latest is the cost of LPG which went up to P1 per kilo or P11 per 11 kilogram tank. "Due to inflation and other present economic realities, the real value of government workers' salaries has significantly decreased. Just like the workers in the private sector, are also affected by the soaring prices of commodities and services. "

Bong Revilla stressed that substantial salary increase would boost the morale of public employees and further professionalize government offices. "I admit that while executives and top officials of the government are enjoying various perks and privileges, the employees who are at the frontline of delivering services to the public, are living in dismal poverty," he said..

In relation to this, the lawmaker filed Senate Bill 2928 which seeks to grant P6,000 salary increase to all government employees, whether they are working in the national or local government, in government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) or government financial institutions (GFIs), in state universities and colleges or other government offices.

Under SB2928, there shall be no reduction in any existing allowances and benefits under existing laws, decrees, issuances, executive orders and any contract or agreement between employees and the government No salary increase shall be credited as compliance with this increase unless expressly provided under a valid collective negotiations agreement.