State workers to receive new non-wage benefits

PRESIDENT Arroyo unveiled a package of non-wage benefits for over a million state workers yesterday, including shuttle services and more scholarship programs for their children and siblings.

While workers have to wait until June for talks on salary increases to begin before the regional wage boards, Mrs. Arroyo said Labor Day was still a timely occasion to celebrate the economy’s resilience.

“The skills and talents of our workers at home and abroad are confounding the gloomy forecasts of pessimists as they continue to seek out ever more jobs, remit more funds to our shores, and sustain the hopes of our country,” she said.

“A grateful government pledges its unwavering support to the great Filipino worker and the bright future that our workers are building for our country,” the President added.

The package of non-wage benefits are the following:

• A shuttle service

• A financial subsidy to make the Botika ng Barangay, which sells cheap generic medicines, more accessible

• More scholarships for the children and siblings of state workers

• PX marts that sell tax-free products

• A seed fund for government employees or cooperatives that would like to run commissaries.

Mrs. Arroyo also instructed newly installed Armed Forces Chief Victor Ibrado to ensure the well-being of the 125,000-strong military.

The President said she expected Ibrado, the 39th Armed Forces chief, to continue the projects of retired Gen. Alexander Yano, whom she praised for his efforts to help the ordinary soldier.

“I applaud our recently retired General Alexander Yano because, as busy as he fought the enemies of the state, he worked just as passionately to secure the well-being of the ordinary soldier and to give former rebels a second chance to live in peace, a second chance to be part of the great Filipino work force,” she said.

It was Yano who first implemented the policy of giving sleeping bags and P300 in cellular phone loads to soldiers deployed in strife-torn areas in Mindanao.

“In honor of the great Filipino soldier, our administration has invested heavily in new and better equipment, more training, and more cooperation with our allies to professionalize our military. We have invested in higher pay, more housing, better health care, and better force protection,” the President said.

Earlier this week, the House committee on appropriations approved a P124-billion package that will raise the salaries of state workers over four years starting July.

Apart from the salary increases, state workers will also be entitled to loyalty incentives, rewards and cash or in-kind bonuses of up to 100 percent of their basic pay to help them ride out the economic crisis.

The bonuses would be set up as rewards for agencies that exceed their financial and operational targets, said Quirino Rep. Junie Cua, who heads the appropriations committee. –Joyce Pangco Pañares and Christine F. Herrera, Manila Standard Today