MANILA — The House of Representatives has adopted a resolution seeking to increase the travel allowance of government officials and workers from PHP800 to PHP2,000.
According to a statement on Thursday, the House adopted House Resolution 243 urging President Rodrigo Duterte to issue an executive order increasing travel allowances for local travels of government officials and personnel to PHP2000.
Under Executive Order 298, government officials and employees are given PHP800 travel allowance regardless of rank and destination.
EO 298 stipulates that 50 percent, or PHP400, shall be allotted for hotel or lodging; 30 percent, or PHP240, shall be allotted for meals; while the remaining 20 percent, or PHP160, shall be allotted for incidental expenses.
ABS Partylist Rep. Eugene Michael de Vera, author of the resolution, cited the need to restructure the system of allocating allowances by implementing a periodic increase following recent adjustments in the value of the Philippine peso.
“The last adjustment was made in 2004, it has been 13 years since then. We all know that prices have increased,” De Vera said.
“By having this resolution, probably the President will listen to us in order that our poor government employees assigned officially to different destinations within the country would have enough money to use in their respective assignments,” he added.
De Vera said the breakdown of the PHP2,000 daily travel allowance shall be: hotel/lodging, PHP1,000; meals, PHP600; and incidental expenses, PHP400.
“It is the responsibility of the government to provide travel allowances to its employees in fulfillment of their official duties and responsibilities,” he said.
“There is a need to enable a proper representation by giving sufficient allowances that are commensurate with the duties and responsibilities and to the nature of the travel,” he added. (Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA)
