September 29, 2009
MANILA (AFP) - President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday donated her salary for two months to the victims of devastating Philippines floods and ordered all the members of her cabinet to do the same.
At a cabinet meeting aired live on government television, Arroyo said the cabinet should "donate our two months' salary for the relief and rehabilitation operations."
The cabinet members voiced no dissent at her suggestion and Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said all would comply.
However, the president and vice president are paid a mere 50,000 pesos (about, 1,042 dollars) a month, while cabinet members get 30,000. Many of them are extremely wealthy, with outside business ventures.
Arroyo also ordered the budget department to release the 13th month bonus pay of government workers immediately, instead of at Christmas as required by law, to help survivors rebuild their lives.
Tropical storm Ketsana unleashed six-metre (20-foot) floods in Manila and nearby areas on Saturday, killing at least 240 and displacing nearly two million others, according to the latest official tally.
Arroyo earlier threw open Malacanang presidential palace for those left homeless and as a distribution centre for relief goods.
