Drilon seeks pay hike for state workers

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Franklin Drilon wants a 27-percent average increase in the salary of about 1.53 million state workers, including uniformed personnel, over a period of three years.

He filed Senate Bill 13, the Salary Standardization Law IV seeking to introduce reforms in the government’s compensation system to make it competitive with the private sector, and to boost the employees’ morale and productivity.

“The compensation for all civilian government personnel shall be competitive with those in the private sector doing comparable work in order to attract, retain and motivate a corps of effective, efficient, professional, committed and competent civil servants,” he said. 

“This piece of legislation seeks to increase the base pay of covered employees on the average by 27 percent, while the 14th month pay will further raise basic pay by eight percent.” 

The bill seeks to mandate a three-year compensation increase for the national government’s 1.53 million civilian and military and uniformed personnel.

It also aims to provide for a midyear bonus equivalent to a month’s basic salary and an enhanced performance-based bonus equivalent to one to two months’ basic salary.

If passed into law, the first tranche of the adjustment under the SSL 2016 will take effect on Jan. 1, 2017, with the subsequent tranche to begin on Jan. 1, 2018 and the final tranche slated for Jan. 1, 2019.

Drilon said the proposed new compensation level for all salary grades would be required to be at least 70 percent of their equivalents in the private sector to attract and retain competent and committed personnel.

A government nurse with the rank of Nurse II or salary grade 15 with a monthly salary of P27,565 would receive P33,279 per month after the last tranche of the bill is implemented by 2019.

Similarly, employees receiving the smallest minimum basic salary – Salary Grade 1 – would see their monthly wages rise from P9,000 to P11,068 a month.

Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has sought the approval of a bill seeking to double the gross pay of personnel of the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police.

In filing House Bill 304, Arroyo cited President Duterte’s campaign promise to raise the salaries of the uniformed services.

The Arroyo bill tasks the Department of Budget and Management to make a detailed schedule of the 100-percent pay increase for soldiers and policemen.

The proposed increase would be initially charged to the savings of the agencies and departments.

Thereafter, the increases would be allocated in the annual General Appropriations Act and implemented on a staggered basis over five years.

The entry-level monthly salary in the police and military organizations is about P15,000. Generals receive as much as P100,000.

Other government workers are expected to clamor for a pay adjustment once the salaries of the PNP and AFP personnel are doubled.

In his speech at the 69th anniversary of the Philippine Air Force, Duterte tapped the Armed Forces and the PNP in his tough anti-drug campaign.

Duterte cited Arroyo for making the illegal drug scourge a national security threat.

The former Davao City mayor has admitted that he and Arroyo are friends. He, in fact, has offered to pardon her, but the former president has turned down the offer, as it would mean admitting guilt.

She is facing plunder charges in connection with the alleged misuse of more than P300 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds.