Section 8August 21, 1989, Sec./Art. 8

Salaries of Constitutional Officials and their Equivalent. - Pursuant to Section 17, Article XVIII of the Constitution, the salary of the following officials shall be in accordance with the Salary Grades indicated hereunder:

Salary Grades

President of the Philippines

33

Vice-President of the Philippines

32

President of the Senate

32

Speaker of the House of Representatives

32

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

32

Senator

31

Member of the House of Representatives

31

Associate Justices of the Supreme Court

31

Chairman of a Constitutional Commission under Article IX, 1987 Constitution

31

Member of a Constitutional Commission under Article IX, 1987 Constitution

30

The Department of Budget and Management is hereby authorized to determine the officials who are of equivalent rank to the foregoing Officials, where applicable, and may be assigned the same Salary Grades based on the following guidelines:

GRADE 33 - This Grade is assigned to the President of the Republic of the Philippines as the highest position in the government. No other position in the government service is considered to be of equivalent rank.

GRADE 32 - This Grade is limited to the Vice-President of the Republic of the Philippines and those positions which head the Legislative and Judicial Branches of the government, namely: the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. No other positions in the government service are considered to be of equivalent rank.

GRADE 31 - This Grade is assigned to Senators and Members of the House of Representatives and those with equivalent rank as follows: the Executive Secretary, Department Secretary, Presidential Spokesman, Ombudsman, Press Secretary, Presidential Assistant with Cabinet Rank, Presidential Adviser, National Economic and Development Authority Director General, Court of Appeals Presiding Justice, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice, Secretary of the Senate, Secretary of the House of Representatives, and President of the University of the Philippines.

An entity with a broad functional scope of operations and wide area of coverage ranging from top level policy formulation to the provision of technical and administrative support to the units under it, with functions comparable to the aforesaid positions in the preceding paragraph, can be considered organizationally equivalent to a Department, and its head to that of a Department Secretary.

GRADE 30 - Positions included are those of Department Undersecretary, Cabinet Undersecretary, Presidential Assistant, Solicitor General, Government Corporate Counsel, Court Administrator of the Supreme Court, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Vice-President, National Economic and Development Authority Deputy Director General, Presidential Management Staff Executive Director, Deputy Ombudsman, Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals, Associate Justices of the Sandiganbayan, Special Prosecutor, University of the Philippines Executive Vice-President, Mindanao State University President, Polytechnic University of the Philippines President of and President of other state universities and colleges of the same class.

Heads of councils, commissions, boards and similar entities whose operations cut across offices or departments or are serving a sizeable portion of the general public and whose coverage is nationwide or whose functions are comparable to the aforecited positions in the preceding paragraph, may be placed at this level.

The equivalent rank of positions not mentioned herein or those that may be created hereafter shall be determined based on these guidelines.

The Provisions of this Act as far as they upgrade the compensation of Constitutional Officials and their equivalent under this section shall, however, take effect only in accordance with the Constitution: Provided, That with respect to the President and Vice-President of the Republic of the Philippines, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senators, and the Members of the House of Representatives, no increase in salary shall take effect even beyond 1992, until this Act is amended: Provided, further, That the implementation of this Act with respect to Assistant Secretaries and Undersecretaries shall be deferred for one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act and for Secretaries, until July 1, 1992: Provided, finally, That in the case of Assistant Secretaries, Undersecretaries and Secretaries, the salary rates authorized herein shall be used in the computation of the retirement benefits for those who retire under the existing retirement laws within the aforesaid period.