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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

DBM starts releasing higher salaries today

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The Department of Budget and Management will release to government agencies today a total of P24 billion to pay for the salary increases for state workers and additional allowances for military and other uniformed personnel.

“We want to ensure the immediate implementation of the new salary rates and release the differentials since the compensation adjustments apply retroactively to the start of the year,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad

“We also want to emphasize that the first tranche of salary adjustments includes a mid-year bonus equivalent to one month’s salary and a Productivity Enhancement Incentive of P5,000. Given that benefits not exceeding P82,000 are exempt from tax, public servants with salary grades 1 to 11 will receive both bonuses tax-free, while salary grades 12 to 16 will receive the entirety of their mid-year bonus,” Abad also said.

Abad also said that workers in government-owned or -controlled corporations are included in the increases, provided that they are not covered by Republic Act 10149 which establishes a separate compensation and classification system for GOCC personnel.

For covered GOCCs, the funds needed for the adjustments shall be charged against their own funds, the budget secretary said.

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Earlier, President Benigno Aquino III issued an order increasing the pay of government employees months after Congress failed to ratify a new Salary Standardization Law.

President Aquino’s executive order would effectively implement the “first of the four tranches provided for in the proposed SSL 2015 law or SSL 4 that has not been enacted by Congress,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said.

The President approved and signed the order upon his arrival from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-US summit in Los Angeles, California, Coloma added.

Senate President Franklin Drilon praised the signing, saying it was “long-awaited” by government workers.

“However, given that the president’s EO will only cover the salary hike for this year alone, the challenge to implement the full four-year salary hike as envisioned remains with lawmakers,” Drilon said.

Drilon, one of the authors of SSL 4, said he would push for the proposed measure next Congress.

“The economy is on the right course and we take advantage of the favorable condition to raise the pay scheme in the government and align it with the compensation received by employees in the private sector,” he said.

Aquino’s EO 201 states that the minimum salary of Salary Grade 1 employees will increase from P9,000 to P11,068 a month.

It also calls for a “compensation adjustment strategy,” which aims to “bring the compensation of government personnel closer to their private counterparts to at least 70 percent of the median of the market for all salary grades.”

Abad said the EO modified government salary schedules and also granted additional benefits to government workers.

“This action by the President leverages the benefits package in order to increase the take-home pay of government employees as stipulated in the proposed SSL bills,” he said in a statement.

The adjustments will be sourced from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund of the 2016 General Appropriations Act.

 

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