Budget delay won’t affect pay hike for state workers

MANILA, Philippines — The more than one million government workers will receive their fourth and last annual salary increase next year as scheduled, House of Representatives Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said yesterday.

“The rumor that the last installment of the four-year pay hike program will depend on the fate of the 2019 budget is fake news. Two separate laws govern the authorization for the increase. Thus, its implementation is decoupled from the passage of the budget,” he said.

He revealed a total of P121.7 billion has been earmarked for the salary adjustments in 2019.

Of the amount, P51.7 billion would be for the fourth and final tranche of the four-year pay hike for civilian officials and employees, from President Duterte down to the lowly clerk or janitor.

The legal basis for this program is Executive Order No. 201, which then president Benigno Aquino III issued in February 2016. Under the EO, President Duterte’s monthly salary next year will jump to P400,000 from about P300,000 this year.

Aquino’s pay was P120,000 a month.

For soldiers, policemen and other uniformed personnel, P70 billion has been set aside for the second installment of their salary increase authorized under Joint Resolution No. 1 of Congress, which Duterte signed in January this year.

The joint resolution doubled the basic monthly pay of the lowest-paid military and police personnel, from P15,000 to P30,000.

This prompted calls from public school teachers and government nurses for a similar pay hike. The entry-level pay for teachers and nurses is P21,000.

They are demanding that their salary be increased to at least P30,000.

The pay adjustment program gives higher-ranking officials much larger increases than middle-level and low-ranking personnel.