Press Release
March 23, 2007

Recto: GMA vetoed Congress-approved govt pay hike bill
But she can take the credit for as long as employees get the cash

With her issuance of an executive order granting national government employees a 10- percent hike in pay and a P1,200 a month raise in the allowance of soldiers and policemen, President Arroyo in effect vetoed the Congress-approved bill giving the same benefits, Sen. Ralph Recto said today.

The flipside of EO 611 is the veto of the bill, Recto said.

But while some of his colleagues may take umbrage on the Palaces move to pull the rug under the Senate, Recto, who principally authored the now archived measure, shrugged it off as a non-issue.

Noting that government employees would still receive their pay, Recto remarked: It doesnt matter if the cat is black or white for as long as it catches the mice.

The President can take the credit for as long as the government workers can have the cash, added Recto.

Recto said he understood where the President was coming from, and it was from the desire to protect the presidential prerogative as chief executive to order compensation adjustments.

He said the bill that was sent for the Presidents signature included a provision repealing Presidential Decree 1597, the Marcos-era law granting presidents the power to grant allowances.

Her men probably warned her that if she signs the measure with that rider in it then she will no longer have the flexibility to grant additional allowances to civil servants, Recto explained.

I think its PD 1597 which she has been invoking in granting additional Christmas bonuses to government workers. She probably fears that if she signs the bill and the PD is repealed in the process, she can no longer respond to employees appeal for bonuses in the future, he said.

Recto said five presidents Marcos, Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo have one time or another exercised the prerogative in the said decree, and the legislatures in each of these administrations did not attempt to repeal this PD, until now.

Yesterday, Malacanang announced that President Arroyo signed E.O. 611 on March 14, or 10 days before the Congress-approved bill was to lapse into law.

Recto noted the said E.O. to be a carbon copy of the bill that was sent to Malacanang.

Like the vetoed bill, the E.O. states that the pay hike will take effect on July this year. It also provided for an increase in the subsistence allowance of uniformed personnel from P60 to P90 a day, and the doubling of their hazard pay from P120 to P240 a month.

The pay hike will cost P10.3 billion in the first year, and P20.6 billion a year thereafter.

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