Victor Borja Hocog
On Feb. 19, Senate President Victor Hocog informed the administration that he “does not agree” with the Office of Management and Budget’s announcement of a 28.3% across-the-board budget cut, which included the lawmakers’ salaries and allocations.
In his letter to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Hocog said “constitutionally, the salaries of the governor, lt. governor, judges, elected attorney general, and members of the Legislature are protected.”
Hocog said the 28.3% budget cut as applied to the Legislature “should be revised to reinstate [the lawmakers’ original] salaries, accordingly.”
In a letter to Hocog that he signed on behalf of Gov. Torres, Lt. Gov. Arnold Palacios said the governor has the authority to make immediate proportionate reductions in allotment authority of all branches of the government including the Legislature, in anticipation of shortfalls in revenue collection.
“To the extent the adjustments affect the funding for senatorial salaries, the shortfall should be addressed through intra-branch reprogramming of funds,” the administration said.
“For example,” the letter stated, “to ensure that legislators’ salaries are not reduced, funds within other legislative accounts, excluding the Legislative Bureau, may be reprogrammed to ensure sufficient funding to pay the salaries.”
But such reprogramming, the administration said, will likely require legislation to allow reprogramming from non-personnel to personnel expenditures.
The administration noted that “significant funds were appropriated to the members’ allocation and leadership accounts for non-personnel expenditures.”
However, the current budget law prohibits the reprogramming of funds from non-personnel to personnel expenditures except under limited circumstances, none of which apply in this case, the administration said.
Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig has said that the projected revenue for fiscal year 2020 went down from $148.8 million to $106 million in light of the steep decline in tourist arrivals due to the global novel coronavirus outbreak.
From $385,996, the budget for the senators’ salaries is now $276,627, which means that each senator’s annual salary went down from $42,000 to $30,736. The senators’ office allocations were reduced by 19.1%. From $945,000 it has been lessened to $763,780 while funding for the Senate leadership, which was set at $300,000 has dropped to $242,470.
From $770,031, the budget for the House members’ salary has been decreased to $551,848 or $27,500 annually.
