National budget, gov’t salary hike approval seen before Christmas

MANILA – House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. sought for the passage of the proposed 2016 national budget and the P226-billion Salary Standardization Law of 2015 (SSL) before the Congress adjourns for the Christmas break.

Belmonte wanted both measures to be approved on or before December 16, noting that 1.53 million state workers will benefit from the wage hike and even more Filipinos will be able to avail services provided by the government once the national budget was approved.

“We already passed it on second reading. It is already funded by the 2016 budget. We can approve it on third reading before or same day as the budget,” the House Chief said in an interview.

Belmonte then appealed for the lawmakers’ attendance in the plenary session. He earlier vowed to pass the SSL on final reading when the Congress resumed session after the Philippines’ hosting of this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

The House Independent Bloc also committed towards the immediate approval of the budget and the pro-workers’ bill as they sought ‘to extend malasakit (compassion) to our state workers.’

“They really need economic relief to decently support their basic needs,” Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez said in a Manila Bulletin report.

“We should further examine the measure by pushing higher increase than the proposal offers for low-level and middle-level employees like teachers and nurses because they need better pay the most,” he added.