SolGen Calida to SC: No legal basis to raise gov’t nurses’ minimum pay

The government cannot be compelled to increase state nurses' salary to Salary Grade 15 without "any legal basis," Solicitor General Jose Calida told the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday.

During oral arguments on a petition by Ang Nars Party-list seeking an upgrade of nurses' salary based on the Philippine Nursing Act, Calida said the relevant provision in the law has already been repealed by a 2009 joint resolution by Congress.

Section 32 of the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 provides that the minimum base pay of nurses in public health institutions shall not be lower than Salary Grade 15.

However, Joint Resolution No. 4 repealed all provisions of laws prescribing salary grades for government officials and employees other than those in the Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989. The older law set the salary of a Nurse I to Salary Grade 10.

Pursuant to the joint resolution, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 811, which adopted the first tranche of the modified salary schedule of civilian personnel and base pay schedule of military personnel, as well as the modified position classification system.

This order also upgraded the salary grade of an entry-level nurse from Salary Grade 10 to Salary Grade 11.

"Absent a new legislative measure, there is no basis to grant entry-level nurses Salary Grade 15. Therefore the government cannot be compelled by way of mandamus to grant the salary grade prayed for," Calida said.

To rule on the petition, the SC has to decide whether or not the joint resolution is a law that has the power to repeal prior laws.

"As confirmed by both the Senate and House of Representatives, there is no real difference between a bill and a joint resolution. Both are laws," Calida said.

Senior Associate Justice Carpio asked if there was a difference between law and an act that has the force and effect of law, to which Calida responded that Senate rules say both bills and joint resolutions undergo the same legislative process in order to be passed and may therefore amend or repeal existing laws.

Ang Nars Party-list, represented by Leah Primitiva Samaco-Paquiz, wants the SC to compel the government to enforce the salary provision of the Philippine Nursing Act and declare null Executive Order No. 811.

However, Calida said assigning salary grade 15 for the Nurse I position would result in "inequity and wage distortion" in medical and allied positions, because under the party-list's suggestion, a Nurse I would receive higher compensation than a government doctor (SG 14), as well as entry-level pharmacists, optometrists, occupation therapists, midwives, medical technologists, and dentists.

The objective of the assailed joint resolution, he said, is to "correct the errors and the distortions in the salary wages."

On the other hand, Ang Nars lawyer Sharon Faith Paquiz  told the Court that its desired salary grade would be equitable if the Budget department and the Civil Service Commission reclassified the position classifications of other health workers, like doctors, "and not pull them down."

At the end of the proceeding, Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin ordered the parties to submit their memoranda in 20 days. —NB, GMA News