Drilon: Salary hike should serve as Valentine’s gift

Senate President Franklin Drilon  (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – Senate President Franklin Drilon called the attention of President Aquino to sign an executive oder that will increase the salaries of government employees and serve as Valentine’s gift.

The executive order grants salary increase to 1.5 million government workers, as an alternative to Salary Standardization Law IV (SSL4).

According to Drilon, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has submitted the certification on the availability of funds under the 2016 budget to President Aquino.

The Congress has appropriated P57.91 billion in the 2016 budget under the implementation of Tranche 1 of the SSL, to cover the requirement.

Aside from the salary hike, Drilon also saw the need to look into the Social Security System (SSS) proposed pension increase of the retired sector workers.

Drilon has been asking the officials of the SSS to review on how are they going to increase the pension of the retirees without causing any danger to the fund life being shortened.

He also said that the SSS executives can recommend a viable amount which they can approve if the SSS cannot give a go signal on P2,000 increase.

“Probably not the P2,000, but for heaven’s sake, our pensioners need help. Perhaps some increase in the pension, how much is reasonable to protect both the fund life and our 30 million SSS members, and at the same time, respond to the needs of our pensioners,” Drilon said in an interview with The Philippine Star.

According to Abad, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) would submit a formal recommendation to issue an executive order granting salary increases to over 1.5 million state workers this year.