Senator Mark Villar has added another bill to increase the allowances of state workers, saying it is about time that the government increases the financial assistance to defray expenses caused by the rise in the prices of basic commodities.

Villar’s Senate Bill (SB) 1378 or An Act Providing an Increase and an Automatic Adjustment Mechanism in the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) Granted to Government Employees aims to increase the financial assistance given to state workers from the current PHP2,000 to PHP4,000.

Senator Francis Escudero earlier filed SB 60 to also double the amount being received by about 1.8 million government employees.

“Kasabay ng pagtaas ng gasolina, gayon na rin ng presyo ng bilihin. Nararapat din na itaas ang PERA ng mga empleyado upang maging sapat ito sa pagtugon sa kanilang mga pangunahing pangangailangan (We must increase the PERA of our employees for them to cope with the increase in prices of gasoline and basic commodities),” Villar said in a statement.

The measure also covers civilian government personnel at the local and national levels, elected or appointed, or whether occupying regular, contractual, or casual positions, whose petitions are covered by Republic Act 6758 or the Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989.

Military and uniformed personnel will receive the same amount, except for government personnel stationed abroad who receive overseas allowances.

Once enacted into law, Villar said it would help ease the pressure on government personnel to secure their basic necessities, thus, allowing them to concentrate and be further motivated in providing public service.

“This is long overdue. Our government employees deserve this increase to make ends meet due to the high prices of basic commodities. This is a huge help to our hardworking government employees, especially as the Yuletide season is fast approaching,” he wrote in his explanatory note.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. previously said he is eyeing to provide rice allowance for government workers, citing the need to ease their daily expenses.

“I’m going to initiate, at least for the government workers, the rice allowance. Part of the sweldo, ang pagbayad is in rice para nakakatiyak tayo (Part of the salary is the granting of rice so we could ensure that) everybody, every family will have rice,” Marcos said in an interview in September. (PNA)