Policemen perform pass in review after their flag ceremony at Philippine National Police, Camp Crame Headquarters, Quezon City, May 16, 2016. INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Monday said the proposed P3.35 trillion national budget for 2017 would include a P39.5 billion budget for the salary increase of police, military, and other uniformed personnel.
During the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) meeting at the House of Representatives, Diokno said this amount was earmarked in the budget to fulfill President Duterte’s promise of improving their pay.
As for the salary standardization of government workers which was not passed by the previous Congress, Diokno said he would propose to Congress the passage of a joint resolution to implement the four tranches of salary increase for government employees, including public school teachers.
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“Our preference is to have a joint resolution to this. Under the Constitution, you need congressional action for salary adjustment,” Diokno said.
Diokno said the second tranche of salary increase for government workers would be “built in” the department and agency budgets.
He noted that the executive order issued by erstwhile President Benigno Aquino III to implement the first tranche salary increase following the gridlock in the proposed Salary Standardization law may be adopted by the current administration to continue the pay hike.
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“It will be continued… . Our preference is to have it adopted as a joint resolution by Congress by four tranches. The second tranche is already in the 2017 budget,” Diokno said.
During the turn-over of the budget last week, Diokno said the budget of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were substantially increased to support the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, criminality and terrorism.
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Diokno said the proposed budget for the PNP amounted to P110.4 billion, or 24.6 percent higher than its 2016 budget, for the national police force to hire more personnel and purchase more guns and patrol vehicles to intensify its suppression of criminality.
Meanwhile, the proposed budget for the AFP is P130.6 billion, or 15 percent higher than the 2016 budget, to complement the AFP Modernization Program, under which P25 billion was allocated to better equip soldiers for counter terrorism.
Diokno also said the Duterte administration would seek an increase in the salaries of military and police officers through the passage of a law for a new tranche of salary standardization to increase the base pay of uniformed personnel and pension of retirees. JE