Pay hike for goverment workers backed

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers in the House of Representatives yesterday expressed support for the proposed increase in salary of all government employees.

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda and Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite said the proposal of the Department of Education (DepEd) for an increase in salary of public school teachers should be across-the-board to include all government personnel.

Rodriguez said the proposed salary adjustment will help government employees counteract the effects of the rising cost of living, citing a recent Pulse Asia survey showing that eight out of 10 Filipinos want new government salary hikes to cover not just teachers but all workers in the public sector.

Conducted from June 24 to 30, the Pulse Asia survey indicated that 77 percent of Filipinos aged 18 years old and above agreed that salary standardization should include all government workers.

It also showed that only 17 percent of the respondents were of the opinion that it should cover only teachers, a negligible three percent disagreed with the salary increase and another three percent answered they “don’t know.”

Salceda, for his part, said the compensation adjustment should cover the entire public sector.

“You do one, you do to all. Thus, the increase should be simultaneous for all civil servants,” he stressed.

Salceda, vice chair of the House appropriations committee, explained that there is an allocation of P34 billion in the proposed 2020 national budget for four percent across-the-board increase in the salary of government workers.

Gaite agreed with the opinion of Rodriguez and Salceda, and he cautioned against possible wage distortion in government service if salary hikes would be exclusively granted to public school teachers, instead of all civil service workers.

During the budget hearing in the House, Education Secretary Leonor Briones echoed the call for a salary increase not just of public teachers but of all government workers as well.

“While DepEd is recognized as the biggest bureaucracy in the country with a vital function, it is still part of an entire government system with functions that are economically interdependent of each other. There are nurses, engineers and other professionals who also play important roles in the delivery of quality, accessible, relevant and liberating basic education for the Filipino learners,” she stressed. – With Janvic Mateo