Aquino OKs compensation pension increase for gov’t employees

President Benigno Aquino III has issued an executive order (EO) imposing a 10-percent across-the-board increase in the compensation pension of employees in the public sector.

In EO No. 188 signed last Sept. 11, Aquino said “there is a need to continually improve benefits under the Employees’ Compensation (EC) Program to make them more responsive to the welfare and development needs of persons with work-related disabilities.”

Citing the Employees’ Compensation Commission’s (ECC) board resolution no. 15-01-01, the EO said the increase was pursuant to Article 177(e) of the Labor Code of the Philippines, which stated that the ECC shall have the powers and duties to “upgrade benefits and grant new ones for permanent disability or death,” subject to the President’s approval.

“The amount of EC pension for the public sector shall be increased by ten percent across-the-board, effective 01 May 2015; Provided that the stability of the SIF (State Insurance Fund) shall be guaranteed; and provided, further that, there is no corresponding increase in EC contribution from their employer, the national government,” the order read.

The EO said the results of a study conducted by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) showed that the SIF can finance the increase in EC for the public sector “without affecting the stability of the SIF and without requiring additional contributions from the national government.”

“The ECC and the GSIS are hereby directed to appropriate and release the amounts necessary to cover the increase in EC pension from the reserves of the SIF administered by the GSIS under the Employees’ Compensation Program,” it added. Yuji Vincent Gonzales/JE