LUCENA CITY—Soldiers and policemen in Quezon province welcomed a bill, authored by former soldier Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, raising the salaries of government workers that would lead to a basic pay of more than P20,000 for a rookie soldier and at least P500,000 for a four-star general.
“The filing of the bill is very welcome. It will help not only policemen on the street but all state employees,” said Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Quezon police provincial director.
Trillanes, in a statement, vowed to push for the passage of his Senate Bill No. 2671 (Salary Standardization Law 4) before the end of President Aquino’s term.
Under the bill, the current base pay of government workers would be updated.
Maj. Angelo Guzman, spokesperson of the military’s Southern Luzon Command, also welcomed Trillanes’ bill.
He said the proposed measure has been the topic of conversations among soldiers and officials.
Morale booster
“The salary increase will bring great help to all soldiers. It will surely boost their morale,” he said over the phone.
“Most of them are receiving less than what they really need for their families particularly for the education of their children,” he said.
He called on lawmakers to support the bill.
Under the bill, salary grades would be rearranged with salary Grade 1 being the entry level and salary Grade 33, the President, being the highest level.
The reclassification of salary grades would be based on the competency, nature of work and accountability.
In the improved salary scale, Trillanes said the base pay of the lowest grade government employee would be increased from the current P9,000 to P16,000 a month.
For uniformed personnel, the base pay would range from P23,200 for a rookie soldier to P550,000 for a four-star general.
Legacy
“I’d like this bill to be the legacy of President Aquino to our government employees,” said Trillanes in a statement.
He said raising salary levels would be “a potent anticorruption measure.”
“Our public servants can be effectively discouraged from resorting to unscrupulous activities in order to augment their meager incomes,” said Trillanes, a former Navy man before joining politics.
He said the bill is “consistent with the anticorruption campaign of the President.”
“Civil servants serve as the public face of our government in providing our people with basic needs and public services. They are the backbone of good governance and administration,” he said.
“In the end, it is the people who will benefit from a better compensated and corruption-free bureaucracy,” said the Senator.
The bill is currently pending on second reading at the Senate. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon