Palace: Let’s prioritize pay raise of gov’t workers

Sen. Antonio Trillanes III INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Thursday said it will not prioritize the proposal of Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV to increase the President’s salary to P1 million a month, in a bid to curb corruption in government.

“Mas mahalagang bigyan ng prayoridad yung kapakanan ng mga public school teachers, sundalo, pulis at mga career government employees,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement to media.

(It is more important to prioritize the welfare of public school teachers, soldiers, policemen and career government employees.)

However, Coloma said he understands where Trillanes is coming from since the same system is already being implemented in countries like Singapore where the salary of government officials are at par with corporate executives.

Trillanes earlier suggested raising the President’s salary from P120,000 to P1 million a month so officials would not consider “resorting to unscrupulous activities in order to augment their meager income.” He said Cabinet secretaries could also have incomes within the range of P600,000 to P800,000.

Coloma said there is also a need to study how much is needed in case the proposal pushes through and how it will be implemented alongside other priorities of the government, such as public infrastructure and poverty reduction.

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