SANCTIONING the salaries of the past administration’s employees that exceeded the ceiling set by the Compensation Adjustment Act will “make a wrong thing right,” according to Sen. Diego M. Songao, Covenant-Rota.
The senator is opposing H.B. 13-126, introduced by House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider, R-Saipan, as it seeks to sanction only the excessive salaries received by employees during the past administration.
“Giving sanction to these salaries that did not follow the law is a move to make a wrong right. And if that is going to happen, then people would no longer have faith in the enforcement of laws because they will see that laws could be bent and unfairly applied,” said Songao in an interview yesterday.
He said he was “saddened” by the House’s decision to pass Hofschneider’s bill as it was apparent that the measure wanted past employees who received salaries above the cap to get off the hook.
“There is an existing law that prohibits any agency from giving employees salaries that are more than what is approved by the statute. With the House’s decision to sanction the salaries of past employees, then it means that the past administrations and their employees would be exempted from following that law,” he said.
He said the issue on the salary cap could be fairly addressed if the Legislature would unite in coming up with a resolution that would either apply or withhold sanction to employees of past and present administrations.
“Fairness calls for either sanctioning the salaries of past and present administrations or not giving sanction at all. I don’t understand why it is okay for the House to sanction the past administration but not the present,” Songao said. “If the House felt that it is just to sanction the previous administration’s salaries, then they should also address the request of the present administration for sanction, especially when the present administration is the one that is trying to follow the law,” he said.
Songao said that if the Legislature is “going to be strict” on giving sanctions due to the present budgetary constraints, it would be better, he added, if “we will not sanction the (excessive) salaries of the past and present administrations.”
