Senate grants upgrade of Salary Standardization Law unanimous approval

The Senate has passed the measure updating and upgrading the Salary Standardization Law, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Wednesday.

Various organizations of government workers have endorsed the measure, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Committee on Finance.

Angara said that besides eliminating the “distortions” in the present salary structure, the measure also addressed the disparity in salaries between government executives and their counterparts in the private sector.

“The Civil Service Commission found that the salaries of senior managers and highly technical personnel in government were 74 percent below their equivalents in the private sector,” he said.

Among the main beneficiaries of the upgraded Salary Standardization bill are nurses and teachers who will have a P6,000 increase in their monthly pay at the entry level. (Related story on this page.)

“This system integrates personnel and organizational performance and rewards exemplary civil servants or well-performing institutions,” he said.

Zubiri said the Senate will work double-time to pass Angara’s bill and other bills, including the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), before Wednesday next week when the Congress holds its last session for the Second Regular Session.

He said that the Senate approved last Tuesday the Anti-Torture Law and the bill strengthening the Government Corporate Council, both authored by Sen. Francis Escudero; the International Humanitarian Law of Sen. Richard Gordon.

“We will also tackle on the floor the Climate Change bill of Sen. Loren Legarda, the Disaster Risk Mitigation bill of Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, and the bill promoting organic agriculture,” Zubiri said.

He also said if Escudero would talk to him, the Anti-Voyeurism bill of Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Pia Cayetano could reach the floor “in a blink of the eye.” — Efren L. Danao, Manila Times