ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 405
ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 405 -
AFFIRMING THE PAYMENT OF SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES OF GOVERNMENT
PERSONNEL STATIONED ABROAD AT COLLECTION RATE
WHEREAS, Republic Act No. 7157, otherwise
known as the Philippine Foreign Service Act of 1991, was enacted to
strengthen the Philippine foreign service by providing the personnel
with, among other things, suitable and competitive salaries, allowances
and benefits;
WHEREAS, the salaries and allowances of the Philippine foreign service
personnel have been diminished by the increase in cost of living at the
different foreign service posts caused by drastic changes in foreign
currency conversion rates;
WHEREAS, certain Philippine foreign service posts, in an effort to
minimize the adverse effects of the foreign currency fluctuations and
bank charges for currency conversions, have sought refuge in the
adoption of an ad hoc procedure of securing authorization from the
Secretary of Foreign Affairs to pay the salaries and allowances of
personnel at the foreign currency rates utilized in the conversion of
the revenues collected at said posts;
WHEREAS, the payment of salaries and allowances at collection rate
level has provided the fibility by which government personnel assigned
abroad are given fairly adequate means to live in a manner befitting
their representative capacities and within the government's financial
capability;
WHEREAS, there is a felt need to re-affirm and ratify the policies and
procedures adopted by the Department regarding collection rates in the
different foreign service posts;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Philippines, by
virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby ratify and affirm:
1.
The authority of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to formulate, adopt
and implement rates, policies, and procedures including those which are
already being followed in different foreign service posts relating to
the payment of salaries and allowances of foreign service personnel at
collection rate; provided that such payments shall be made only out of
collections.
2. Foreign
service posts which are currently applying the collection rate on an ad
hoc basis may continue to do so until otherwise instructed by the
President of the Republic of the Philippines upon the recommendation of
the Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
3. This
Executive Order shall take effect immediately.
Done in the City of Manila,
this 24th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and
Ninety-Eight.