TRINKLED

(Update) DBM: Pay hikes will also help other civil servants

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. on Monday defended President Arroyo after her critics lashed anew at the administration this time over a proposal seeking to double the salaries of top government employees.

Andaya said the proposed salary increase in the 2009 national budget is meant to adjust the salary grade of all those employed in the public sector, not just the President.

The salaries of all government employees should go up. It just so happened that in the proposal, the current salary grade of the President will also be adjusted, the budget chief told radio dzMM.

Andaya said raising the salaries of government employees will make the public sector's pay scale more competitive with those working in the private sector.

He said that if Mrs. Arroyos salary is not adjusted, she will end up being paid less than her subordinates, including her Cabinet. He added that public teachers and health workers are the ones who will greatly benefit from the proposed salary adjustment.

'Appraise proposal in its entirety'

In a statement released Monday, Andaya said that the proposed government payscale should be appraised and appreciated in its entirety.

To give room to pay increases at the bottom, the ceiling must be raised, and it is precisely the reason why the proposed pay of the number one official of the land has been increased to accommodate salary augmentations below, the statement said.

The fixation on what the President will ultimately receive has blurred the fact that the current annual basic pay of the President accounts for roughly 1/425,000th of our total personal services for the year. That amount by any standard is incommensurate to the task of being a CEO of an 8.5 trillion-peso economy with 90 million stockholders, it said.

Reports said Mrs. Arroyo, who gets around P50,000 in basic salary, will get a 100-percent pay increase once Congress approves a resolution for the adjustment. Taxpayers, however, foot all the expenses incurred by the Office of the President, including the First Family's stay in Malacanang Palace.

Lost in the welt of criticisms is the fact that a college professor with a rank of Associate Professor V will see his monthly pay jump from P23,294 to P43,541; or that an DPWH Engineer III will have his pay adjusted to P34,644 from the present P20,318 ; or that a Medical Specialist II will be taking home P40,408 instead of P22,397, the statement added.

Andaya submitted the proposal along with the proposed 2009 P1.415-trillion national budget.

'Arroyo doesn't deserve even P1 increase'

Meanwhile, the opposition said that while they welcome the proposed salary increases for government workers the President does not deserve even a P1.00 increase in salary.

We support an increase in the salary of government workers. Government workers, like many Filipinos, can hardly make ends meet because of the economic crisis under the Arroyo administration, United Opposition president and Makati mayor Jejomar Binay, in a statement, said Monday.

If one considers the allegations of irregularities that involve Mrs. Arroyo and her husband, one might even be tempted to ask if she is not already compensated enough, he said.

UNO spokesperson Adel Tamano, meanwhile, said that the country would benefit more if the President sought another better-paying job elsewhere.

Given her dismal public approval survey results, I don't think we can not give President Arroyo a merit pay increase, San Juan mayor JV Ejercito said.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza also slammed Mrs. Arroyos critics Monday, saying the President is overworked but underpaid. He said in spite of this, Mrs. Arroyo is still not complaining. -- with The Philippine Star