Malacañang yesterday said the first tranche of the wage hike for government workers may be implemented after all despite the deadlock in the bicameral conference committee on the proposed Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 4.
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is now preparing its recommendations to President Aquino for the implementation of the first tranche of the salary adjustment for government employees.
“According to Secretary [Florencio] Abad, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is preparing its recommendations to the President on the possible implementation of the first tranche of salary adjustments for government employees, as provided for in the proposed SSL 4 bill,” Coloma said.
The Palace official noted that a total of P57.9-billion appropriation is included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2016.
“This will fully cover the first tranche,” Coloma said.
“Moreover, the DBM will include a similar item in the proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2017, to cover the second tranche. The proposed NEP will be turned-over to the next administration,” he said.
Senator Ralph Recto had called on Malacañang earlier for a Plan B on the salary adjustments for government employees due to the deadlock at the bicameral conference committee’s deliberations on the proposed SSL 4 last week.
Recto had urged the Palace to issue an Executive Order (EO) so that government workers could already receive the first tranche of the three-year wage hike.
In a statement, DBM Sec. Abad said the Executive has “options within its power to effect the proposed compensation adjustment.”
