Senator seeks hikes for gov’t employees’ PERA

MANILA – Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV is pushing for the passage of Senate Bill No. (SBN) 807, a bill seeking to increase the monthly Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) of public and government employees.

Trillanes’s SBN 807 proposes to augment the PERA granted to public sector employees from P 2,000 to P 3,000.

“In 1993, President Fidel Ramos signed Administrative Order No. 53, which granted Five Hundred Peso additional compensation to all government employees in order to cushion the impact of the increasing prices of commodities brought about by the Gulf crisis,” Trillanes said in his sponsorship speech.

“However, the financial crisis persisted and this additional compensation became more than just an emergency fund, but an economic relief fund. This was increased to Two Thousand Pesos through Joint Resolution No. 4 in 2009,” he added.

Under the measure, the proposed PERA increase shall cover all government employees and other uniformed personnel, whether employed by national or local government agencies and/ or instrumentalities, appointive or elective, and whether occupying regular, contractual or casual positions.

His bill would ensure that government workers – beset by rising cost of commodities – can deal with economic difficulties, Trillanes said.

“Similar to my other measure which aim to provide additional or improved benefits to our government workers, passing this measure is the least we can do to shield the salaries of our government employees from the ravages of inflation,” the former Navy official said.

“Although the proposed amount may not be enough to defray all the living costs of our beloved government workers, the increase is significant and will definitely go a long way in helping them with their daily needs.”/