Chiz files bill raising economic relief allowance of gov’t workers

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero has filed a bill that seeks to double the amount being received by some 1.8 million government employees as Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) to help them cope with the higher prices brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and oil price hikes.

In filing Senate Bill No. 60, Escudero seeks to increase the allowance of government employees from P2,000 to P4,000.

The measure also seeks to provide automatic yearly adjustment in equivalent to any increase of the annual inflation rate to meet the needs of state workers.

PERA was originally introduced in the early 1990s as a “subsidy granted to all government workers as a form of assistance to help make ends meet in the face of economic crisis as well as higher prices.”

“Higher gasoline prices, higher transportation fares and higher prices of basic commodities since PERA’s inception have proven that PERA augments the earnings of a government worker not just as an emergency allowance, but as a major source of additional funding to be able to afford basic commodities,” Escudero said.

Under the bill, PERA will still cover all civilian government employees both in the local and national level, whether “appointive or elective, and whether occupying regular, contractual, or casual positions, whose positions are covered by Republic Act No. 6758, the ‘Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989,’ as amended.”

The military and uniformed personnel, except for those who are stationed abroad that are already receiving overseas allowances, are also covered under the measure.

Also under the measure, the first year of the augmented allowance’s implementation, the funds necessary for PERA of national and local government agencies, shall be charged against savings estimated at P62-billion, representing unreleased appropriations and other programmed appropriations.

Thereafter, the amount will be provided under the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Escudero said he is pushing for increased PERA even though he is also supporting the plan of the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) to streamline and reorganize the bureaucracy meant to save some P14.8-billioin in annual government expenditure.

Though the DBM is “on the right path,” Escudero acknowledged that rightsizing the bureaucracy “would be a difficult process.”

“They just have to pour in the time to study which positions are redundant or unnecessary and to make sure that those that may be affected are given proper compensation on top of whatever benefits from the GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) in order to help them get by and start anew amidst these trying economic times,” he said.

But as for streamlining the local government units (LGUs) are concerned, he said the matter should be left to the provincial, city or municipal governments themselves.

“It should be totally up to them. This is part of devolution enshrined in our Constitution and the Local Government Code,” he said.

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