Payrolls in gov't agencies to go digital

MANILA, Philippines - Government employees will soon receive digitized versions of their payroll in a bid to increase efficiency and transparency in government offices, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio Abad said on Tuesday.

“As a fully automated and digitized system, the NPS (National Payroll System) will play a central role in ensuring greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the government’s human resource processes. And because the system will be completely electronic, all payroll-related activities will be implemented more quickly and with better accuracy, whether we’re talking about the distribution of monthly salaries due to government workers, or the regular monthly remittances that are made out to our employees’ social security and health insurance accounts,” Abad said.

The Public Financial Management Committee, of which DBM is a part, is tasked to develop NPS to be pilot-tested in select agencies by the end of the year.

Under the new system, state agencies will continue to have discretion over their respective human resource and personnel requirements. This will be expressed in a Monthly Cash Plan relating to Personnel Services that will be submitted to the Bureau of Treasury, which will provide a payment file to the proper bank for the timely processing of employee salaries, DBM said.

The government agencies are tasked to create Automated Teller Machine payroll accounts for their employees to allow for the electronic distribution of monthly salaries. 

“It is, very simply, a matter of government finally keeping up with the times, where we do away with an outdated and grossly inefficient approach to personnel compensation in favor of an electronic payroll system that makes every transaction quick, verifiable, and transparent,” Abad said.