Budget chief: Local Gov’t Code changes to allow retroactive pay hikes

MANILA: Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Friday sought the amendments to the Philippine Local Government Code of 1991 or Republic Act (RA) 7160 to allow retroactive salary increases for local government unit (LGU) workers. 'Kaya hindi kaya makapag-retroactive. Kailangang baguhin yung batas diyan, 'di ba? May batas kasi. Hindi natin kayang gawan ng paraan ngayon (So it cannot be retroactive. The law needs to be changed there, right? Because there is a law. We can't do it now),' Pangandaman said during the 11th leg of the Public Financial Management Competency Program (PFMCP) for LGUs in Butuan City. 'But siguro kung sa susunod po, tulungan niyo kami na ilatag iyan para hindi kayo maexempt, pwede kayo sa retroactive (maybe if there is next time, you can help us lay that out so that you are not exempted, you can have it retroactively),' she said. Pangandaman said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) tried to make the salary increase for LGU personnel retroactive but stressed that it did not wor k due to certain 'limitations.' The approved guidelines for the pay hikes allow national government agencies (NGAs) and offices to implement the first tranche of salary adjustments that took effect retroactively from Jan. 1, 2024. However, the salary increase among LGU personnel is not retroactive unlike those in the NGAs. Pangandaman said the current provisions of the Local Government Code, which govern the fiscal autonomy of LGUs, lack the necessary flexibility to permit retroactive adjustments in employees' compensation, particularly in the areas of salary standardization and other wage-related benefits. 'Pasensya na, hindi kayo nakasama. May limitations but we tried. Kaso lang hindi pwede kasi baka magka Supreme Court problema tayo (I'm sorry, you were not part of it. There are limitations but we tried. It's just not possible because we might have a problem with the Supreme Court),' she said. She urged the LGUs to adopt the national government's move to provide health allowance to their employees. C apacitating LGUs Meanwhile, Pangandaman called on the LGUs to ensure the full utilization of their respective budgets to strengthen their capabilities and ensure effective resource management and delivery of public services. 'Now, as we fulfill the Mandanas-Garcia Supreme Court ruling and empower our LGUs and capacitate all our budget officers through the PFMCP, I hope that all of your budgets will be fully utilized,' she said. The DBM has been conducting the PFMCP for LGUs since September 2023 to promote good governance, financial accountability, and effective resource management among local government institutions through capacity-building. Pangandaman said the Marcos administration is all set for the implementation of the PFM Reforms Roadmap 2024-2028, which will serve as the blueprint that will harmonize PFM policies across agencies and enable the full digitalization of PFM processes. She said the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA) or RA 12009 signed in July this year will make the procurement sys tem in the public sector 'more attuned to changing times' as it adheres to global standards. 'We will also open the procurement process to citizens' participation and allow the public to observe in the procurement proceedings, true to the spirit of the Philippine Open Government Partnership,' she said. 'Alongside our procurement and OGP wins, we have also ramped up our digital transformation, resulting in the full adoption of the Integrated Financial Management Information System, with the Budget and Treasury Management Systems as a centralized database for all government financial operations,' she added. Source: Philippines News Agency