MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) will be working the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the government’s plan to implement a central payroll system within three to six years, National Treasurer Roberto Tan said.
He said the government does not see a need for a legislative measure to be passed to implement the new system.
“We don’t see any need for that. The COA is there,” Tan said when asked if the new scheme would require new legislative measures to be passed.
He also said the Treasury is already in the early stage of planning on how to implement the new scheme within the next three to six years. “It will be a more efficient system,” Tan said.
Under the plan, the government would put under a single account in the BTr all the payroll of state workers.
The move is part of efforts to lessen bureaucratic corruption and to cut the red tape as is being practiced in other countries.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad first announced the plan dubbed as the Central Payroll System where salaries of government employees will no longer go through the agencies.
Instead, the National Treasury office will deposit the salaries to the bank accounts of the employee.
Tan said one of the beneficiaries of the plan are government workers as it hopes to address the perennial problem of non-remittance of contributions of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the state-owned pension fund for private employees.
At one point, the unpaid contributions of government agencies to GSIS reached P9 billion plus P15 billion in penalties.
Tan said the Treasury would start with the payroll of all National Government agencies first before handling the payroll of government-owned and controlled corporations and government financial institutions.
The Aquino administration has been implementing measures to save on costs and raise more revenues for the government.
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By: Iris C. Gonzales
Source: The Philippine Star, Aug. 25, 2011
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