"Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should explain why
she issued an executive order granting a 10 percent
salary hike for government employees despite the fact
that this is embodied in a bill already approved by
Congress on the basis of the recommendation of the
Palace.
Pimentel said that while it may look impolite for
anyone to question the pay increase through executive
fiat, the issue of the legal justification for such
presidential move could not be avoided.
He said the fact that the President submitted to
Congress an administration bill on the salary hike is
an explicit recognition that only Congress is
empowered to appropriate funds for any program,
project or activity that is initiated by the executive
branch.
Records show that the Senate and House of
Representatives had approved last January the 10
percent salary hike bill and allocating P10.3 billion
for the purpose.
"It's plain one up-womanship. She could not wait for
Congress to do it. I doubt its legality. But it would
be most politically incorrect to denounce it,"
Pimentel said.
"Let's just say that she's gone to the level of a
two-bit politician who wants to put one over others by
scraping the bottom of the political barrel to gain
political advantage."
Pimentel noted that while the President signed
Executive Order 611 mandating the 10-percent
across-the-board salary upgrading about two months
before the May 14 elections, the same will not take
effect until July 1 this year.
Because of the timing and circumstance under which the
executive order was signed by the President, the
minority leader said one cannot help but suspect that
there was a political motive behind the presidential
move.
Pimentel recalled that last year, the President also
jumped the gun on Congress by issuing an executive
order granting a P1,000 monthly allowance to civil
servants despite the fact that there was a pending
bill with Congress for a hike in their compensation.
-o0o-
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