Congress on Wednesday adjourned for the Christmas break without ratifying the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 2015 which is still pending in the Senate.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. adjourned the session with the ratification of the proposed 2016 national budget as well as the bill exempting persons with disabilities from paying value-added tax.
In an interview before the session, Belmonte said the chamber would not be able to ratify the SSL 2015 before the year-end because it is still stuck in the Senate.
READ: House approves Salary Standardization Law 2015
The House on Dec. 9 approved on final reading the proposed four-year P226-billion compensation hike for the government’s 1.53 million civilian and military and uniformed personnel.
The salary standardization would span from 2016 to 2019.
Meanwhile, the Senate approved the SSL 2015 on final reading Monday only to bring it back to the drawers for second reading Tuesday because it did not include retired military personnel’s pension.
READ: Senate OKs Salary Standardization Law
Belmonte said the Senate has to resolve first the debate before approving it on final reading when Congress resumes Jan. 19, 2016.
Only when the Senate approve its version can both Houses of Congress meet in a bicameral conference committee to consolidate its two versions of the bill.
Congress then has to ratify the bicameral conference committee report before the President signs the bill into law.
“We are 100 percent through with the SSL, but the Senate changed certain portions of the SSL. I think they have voted on it on second reading but they need third reading, and there’s one (session) day left,” Belmonte said.
Belmonte said the SSL 2015 may not be ratified on the last session day but it may still be held in effect starting Jan. 1, 2016 despite being approved in the middle of the month.
“Matutuloy yun but it will not be tonight, unless the president will certify it. We’ve done our part. If we approve it on January, that’s when we convene it in the middle of January. It can still be made effective as of Jan. 1, 2016,” Belmonte said.
Militant solons criticized the SSL 2015 for giving paltry sums to ordinary workers while granting hefty increases to higher-ranking officials like the President.
READ: House leaders defend hefty pay, paltry sums under salary law
The compensation package is composed of a salary increase, a mid-year 14th month pay, and an enhanced performance-based bonus (PBB) system.
The salary hike would increase the basic Salary Grade 1 from P9,000 to P11,068 a month.
The bill seeks to increase the basic salary of covered employees by an average of 27 percent. The 14th month pay will increase compensation by eight percent.
Meanwhile, the enhanced PBB is equivalent to one to two months’ salary or an average of 10 percent increase in salary.
The bill also seeks to bridge the gap between the pay of employees in the public sector with their counterparts in the private sector.
Under the bill, the lowest salary grade, Salary Grade 1, will be raised to about 154 percent of the market, while the highest salary grade belonging to the President will be about 70 percent of the market.
Government compensation in the average is estimated to increase by 45 percent and should be around 84 percent of private sector pay at the end of the four tranches. The average government pay now is 55 percent of the market rate.
Under the bill, the new compensation level for all salary grades will be at least 70 percent of the market; there will be no salary overlaps; and the link between pay and performance will be strengthened.
Due to the enactment of Republic Act 10653, which raised the tax exemption cap to P82,000, the 14th month pay and PBB will be tax-exempt for employees belonging to Salary Grades 1 to 11 who only receive the tax-exempt 13th month pay, the cash gift and the productivity enhancement incentive (PEI).
Meanwhile, only the 14th month pay will be tax-exempt for employees under Salary Grade 12 to 16 who receive the existing tax-exempt 13th month pay, cash gift and PEI.
The first tranche of the pay hike will take effect on Jan. 1, 2016 and thereafter until the final tranche in 2019.
Under the SSL, the pay for Teacher 1 would increase to P19,077 in the first year of implementation in 2016, P19,620 in 2017, P20,179 in 2018, and P20,754 in 2019.
The most basic Salary Grade 1 would also be increased from P9,000 to P11,068 a month.
Meanwhile, the President’s salary is increased from the current P120,000 to as much as P388,096. The Vice President, Speaker of the House, Senate President, and Chief Justice’s salary would be increased to as much as P353,470 after four years.
The bill would only increase the salaries of the President and Vice President upon the expiration of their terms. This means President Benigno Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar Binay would not benefit from the salary hike.