519 Phil. 372
GARCIA, J.
Vincent S. Perez, Jr. | Department of Energy; |
Emilia T. Boncodin | Department of Budget and Management; |
Luis P. Lorenzo | Department of Agriculture; |
Romulo L. Neri | National Economic Development Authority; |
Elisea G. Gozun | Department of Environment and Environmental Resources; |
Jose D. Lina | Department of Interior and Local Government; |
Manuel A. Roxas | Department of Trade and Industry; and |
Rogelio M. Murga | NPC President. |
RESOLVED, That the proposed grant of a monthly welfare allowance equivalent to 10% of the employee's basic pay to all NPC employees and personnel of the Office of the Auditor, NPC, effective October 1, 1978, is hereby approved;Pursuant thereto, respondent NPC remitted the employee welfare allowance to the Fund established therefor, the NPC Employees' Welfare Fund.
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the amount of P2,150,000.00 needed to meet payment of the monthly welfare allowance up the end of the current calendar year, is hereby provided by transfer of the Car Plan revolving fund as of September 30, 1978, and the deficiency to be charged against Contingencies and other Expenditures;
RESOLVED FINALLY, That the above-approved monthly welfare allowance shall constitute the fund for the EMPLOYEES' SAVINGS AND WELFARE PLAN which is hereby established effective October 1, 1978, and shall be operated subject to the provisions of the RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE NATIONAL POWER CORPORATION EMPLOYEES' SAVINGS AND WELFARE PLAN, xxx.
RESOLVED, That pursuant to the provisions of Executive Order No. 698 and LOImp No. 97, the implementation of the following increases in personnel compensation effective July 1, 1982:is hereby authorized: Provided, That 5% of the adjusted basic pay of the employees shall be contributed to the Employees' Welfare Fund to improve the Fund's capacity to extend assistance facilities to its members;
- Two (2) salary steps in the approved salary schedule or equivalent to approximately 10% for those receiving above P8,400.00 per annum, and three (3) salary steps in the approved salary schedule or equivalent to 15% for those receiving P8,400.00 per annum and below;
- 5% increase in Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) from the present 30% of basic pay or P300.00 whichever is higher, to 35% of the basic pay or P300.00, whichever is higher; and
- 5% of basic pay as Social Amelioration Allowance (SAA),
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5.8 Payment of other allowances/fringe benefits and all other forms of compensation granted on top of basic salary, whether in cash or in kind, xxx shall be discontinued effective November 1, 1989. Payment made for such allowances/fringe benefits after said date shall be considered as illegal disbursement of public funds.On April 5, 1993, Republic Act No. 7648, also known as the Electric Power Crisis Act of 1993, took effect. Among other things, this law authorizes the President of the Philippines to reorganize NPC to make it more effective, innovative and responsive to the power crisis (Sec. 5) and to upgrade the compensation of NPC personnel at rates comparable to those prevailing in privately-owned power utilities (Sec. 6). Pursuant thereto, the President issued Memorandum Order No. 198,[5] outlining the NPC Compensation Plan.[6]
3.1 Welfare Fund. The Corporation shall resume payment to the Welfare Fund of employer's share equivalent to 10% of the basic salary as of 01 January 1995 of officials and employees. In turn, employees qualified to Welfare Fund membership shall contribute to the Fund an amount equivalent to 5% of their basic salary.In 1998, this Court, in De Jesus vs. Commission on Audit,[10] declared DBM-CCC No. 10, supra, as without force and effect on account of its non-publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation, as required by law.
As DBM CCC No. 10 is null and void ab initio, it could not have produced any legal effect, i.e. discontinuance of the 10% Employer Contribution to the NPC Welfare Fund. Consequently, said discontinuance is illegal and null and void ab initio.Respondent NPC refused to act favorably on the retirees' claim.
In the light of the foregoing, it is crystal clear that aforementioned NPC retirees are legally entitled to the payment of the 10% NPC (Employer) Contribution to the NPC Welfare Fund (equivalent to 10% of their basic salaries) which were withheld/discontinued starting July 1, 1989 up to December 31, 1994, while they were still connected with NPC and prior to their retirement. As the said NPC retirees are legally entitled to the 10% employees' contribution since July 1, 1989, it is just and warranted that they should also be entitled to the payment of interests thereon (12% annual interests for forbearance of money) for the period July 1, 1989 to December 31, 1994. Consequently, formal demand is made upon your Good Office for the payment of the aforementioned amounts illegally withheld from said NPC retirees.
This formal demand is being made in the spirit of the "Principle of exhaustion of administrative remedies" in order to obviate the need of undertaking court action in order to enforce their rights. Should your Good Office desire to have a dialogue on this matter in order to arrive at an amicable out-of-court settlement thereof, the undersigned is more than willing to meet with you at a time and place of your convenience within five (5) days from receipt hereof. Otherwise, should this lawful demand remain unheeded, we shall be constrained, much to our regrets, to institute the corresponding legal actions in court.
xxx With the integration of the employee welfare allowance into the basic salary, NPC as employer no longer need to provide for the counterpart fund to the employee welfare fund which for all intents and purposes had been dissolved. There is, therefore, no legal basis for the NPC to grant the claim of NPC retirees for the period July 1, 1989 to December 31, 1994.Petitioners, noting that respondents continue to refuse to comply with the latter's alleged duty to remit to the NPC Employees' Welfare Fund the NPC's counterpart thereon, as allegedly mandated under NPB Board Resolution No. 78-119, now come to this Court via this direct action for mandamus. The grounds:
xxx The nullity of DBM-CCC No. 10, will not affect the validity of R.A. No. 6758. It is a cardinal rule in statutory construction that statutory provisions control the rules and regulations which may be issued pursuant thereto. Such rules and regulations must be consistent with and must not defeat the purpose of the statute. The validity of R.A. No. 6758 should not be made to depend on the validity of its implementing rules.Although NPC stopped its employer's contribution to the NPC Employees' Welfare Fund, NPC nevertheless continue to pay its employees the amount equivalent to its contribution to the subject fund. NPC integrated its employer's contribution to the NPC Employees' Welfare Fund to the standardized salary rates of its employees in compliance with Section 12 of Rep. Act No. 6758, which provides:
Section 12. Consolidation of Allowances and Compensation. — All allowances, except for representation and transportation allowances; clothing and laundry allowances; subsistence allowance of marine officers and crew on board government vessels and hospital personnel; hazard pay; allowances of foreign service personnel stationed abroad; and such other additional compensation not otherwise specified herein as may be determined by the DBM, shall be deemed included in the standardized salary rates herein prescribed. Such other additional compensation, whether in cash or in kind, being received by incumbents only as of July 1, 1989 not integrated into the standardized salary rates shall continue to be authorized.The State aims in Rep. Act No. 6758 to provide equal pay for substantially equal work and to base differences in pay upon substantive differences in duties and responsibilities, and qualification requirements of the positions. Prior to the effectivity of that law, NPC employees were receiving, aside from cost of living allowance, myriad of allowances like social amelioration allowance, emergency allowance, longevity pay and employee welfare allowance.[16] Section 12 of Rep. Act No. 6758 lays down the general rule that all allowances of state workers are to be included in their standardized salary rates. Exempted from integration to the standardized salary rates, as specified in the aforequoted provision of Section 12 of Rep. Act No. 6758, are only the following allowances:
Existing additional compensation of any national government official or employee paid from local funds of a local government unit shall be absorbed into the basic salary of said official or employee and shall be paid by the National Government.
(1) representation and transportation allowances (RATA);Otherwise stated, the foregoing are the only allowances which government employees can continue to receive in addition to their standardized salary rates. The employee welfare allowance of NPC personnel is clearly not among the allowances listed above which State workers can continue to receive under Rep. Act No. 6758 over and above their standardized salary rates. We must emphasize that Rep. Act No. 6758 does not require that DBM should first define those allowances that are to be integrated with the standardized salary rates of government employees before NPC could integrate the employee welfare allowance into its employees' salaries. Thus, despite our ruling in De Jesus which thwarted the attempt of DBM in DBM-CCC No. 10 to complete the list of allowances exempted from integration, NPC is allowed under Rep. Act No. 6758 to integrate the employee welfare allowance into the employees' standardized salary rates.
(2) clothing and laundry allowances;
(3) subsistence allowances of marine officers and crew on board government vessels;
(4) subsistence allowance of hospital personnel;
(5) hazard pay;
(6) allowance of foreign service personnel stationed abroad; and
(7) such other additional compensation not otherwise specified herein as may be determined by the DBM.
Basic salary | P3, 912.00 |
Cost of living allowance | 1, 564.80 |
Additional cola | 200.00 |
Social Amelioration allowance | 391.20 |
Emergency allowance | 255.00 |
Red Circle rate | 1, 592.10 |
Longevity pay | 200.00 |
Employee welfare allowance | 391.20 |
P8, 506.30 |
Section 17. Salaries of Incumbents. — Incumbents of positions presently receiving salaries and additional compensation/fringe benefits including those absorbed from local government units and other emoluments, the aggregate of which exceeds the standardized salary rate as herein prescribed, shall continue to receive such excess compensation, which shall be referred to as transition allowance. The transition allowance shall be reduced by the amount of salary adjustment that the incumbent shall receive in the future.Evidently, the transition allowance under the aforequoted provision was purposely meant to bridge the difference in pay between the pre-R.A. 6758 salary of government employees and their standardized pay rates thereafter, and because non-diminution of pay is the governing principle in Rep. Act No. 6758, Camagong, pursuant to Section 17 of that law was given a transition allowance of P4,120.30. This explains why, in the case of Camagong, his gross monthly income remained at P8,506.30, as can be seen in his NPASA, clearly showing that the allowances he used to receive prior to the effectivity of Rep. Act No. 6758, were integrated into his standardized salary rate.
The transition allowance referred to herein shall be treated as part of the basic salary for purposes of computing retirement pay, year-end bonus and other similar benefits.
As basis for computation of the first across-the-board salary adjustment of incumbents with transition allowance, no incumbent who is receiving compensation exceeding the standardized salary rate at the time of the effectivity of this Act, shall be assigned a salary lower than ninety percent (90%) of his present compensation or the standardized salary rate, whichever is higher. Subsequent increases shall be based on the resultant adjusted salary (Emphasis supplied).
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, That pursuant to Management's commitment to its employees to extend the said benefits in 1995, the recommendation of Management to implement, effective 01 January 1995, the following benefits:[8] Rollo, pp.60-61.
- Ten percent (10%) employer share in the Provident Fund, in the total amount of Pesos Two Hundred Forty Million (P240,000,000.00) in 1995.
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