Press Release
August 23, 2015

Trillanes pushes for P5,000 COLA for gov't employees

As an alternative to the proposed new Salary Standardization Law, Senator Antonio "Sonny" F. Trillanes IV files Senate Bill 2901, which seeks to provide government employees a special economic assistance in the form of a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), on top of other mandatory allowances they are currently receiving.

According to Trillanes, chairman of Senate Committee on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation, "Over the last few years, the salaries of government employees have been adjusted to meet the increasing cost of basic necessities, as reflected in the yearly increase in the consumer price index. However, said salary adjustments failed to cope with these contingencies."

Trillanes added that it is high time that government employees be granted additional assistance to help alleviate the effects of rising cost of living due to inflation, and in order for them to sustain a decent living.

SBN 2901 seeks to grant all government employees with COLA amounting to Five Thousand Pesos (P5,000.00), to be implemented across-the-board, on top of the existing Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) previously granted to them for the same purpose. It covers all civilian government employees as indicated in Republic Act 6758, or the Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989.

Funding for this bill will be sourced from the General Appropriations Act, particularly the Miscellaneous Personal Benefit Fund (MPBF) or any savings realized by the Government from the current GAA.

In the Senate, Trillanes has continuously proposed for the adjustment in the prevailing salary rates of state workers, through the proposed amendment of the Compensation and Position Classification Act or the Salary Standardization Law No. 4 (SSL 4).

"I believe that this could be the best alternative in case the national government is not yet ready at this time to implement another round of salary adjustments for government employees. Most importantly, this legislation could be the best compromise to fast-track the implementation of a long overdue increase in the take home pay of government workers," Trillanes added.

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