Deputy Speaker vows ‘big push’ on department bills, pay hikes
THE House of Representatives will make a “big push” for the creation of three new departments and work to increase the salaries of public-school teachers and government nurses, Deputy Speaker and Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. Raymond F. Villafuerte, Jr. said in a statement Sunday.
“The House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker (Alan Peter S.) Cayetano, would make a big push for the immediate consideration of the new salary hike and the creation of three new departments — as endorsed by President Duterte in his 4th SONA — more so now that the head of the state economic team has neither raised any objection to nor funding concerns over these proposals,” Mr. Villafuerte said.
In his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo R. Duterte has called for the creation of the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers, Department of Disaster Resilience, and the Department of Water Resources.
In the statement, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III was quoted as saying that the creation of new departments does not require major expenditure.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean a very big expenditure because a lot of the units are already existing,” Mr. Dominguez said.
Mr. Cayetano earlier filed bills supporting the departments’ creation among the first items of legislation he submitted to the 18th Congress.
The President also pushed for the passage of a new version of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) which is meant to give government employees better pay.
Mr. Dominguez said that the government “can afford” another increase citing the initial estimates of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Acting Secretary Janet B. Abuel.
Earlier this year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno announced that the latest tranche of the salary adjustments had been scheduled for early this year but was delayed by the Budget impasse in Congress.
President Duterte signed EO no. 76, amending EO no. 201, on March 15 for the last tranche of SSL round 4. EO 76 authorized funding for the fourth tranche of the salary hike for government workers to be financed by any available appropriations from the reenacted 2018 budget.
Mr. Villafuerte was also positive that the House can pass the 2020 General Appropriations Bill by late October.
Mr. Villafuerte said that “legislators are in no mood to replicate last year’s counterproductive budget deliberations that later on forced the Duterte administration to operate on a reenacted 2018 budget and hold off on its massive spending strategy for high growth.”
He added that “the ‘absence’ in the incoming bigger chamber of those responsible for last year’s House-triggered impasse in the budget negotiations” would also make the October deadline for budget possible.
Mr. Villafuerte said the 15-month term of Mr. Cayetano under the power-sharing agreement will help ensure the speedy passage of the proposed budget. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras
