Capitol job order, contractual workers to get wage hike

CEBU, Philippines - Over a thousand job order (JO) and contract of service (COS) personnel, including doctors, of the Cebu provincial government will get a salary increase in a bid to match the pay offered by the private sector.

Governor Hilario Davide III said there is a need to raise the compensation of government workers to attract experts and other skilled workers to public sector employment.

The governor issued an Executive Order (EO) No. 10 increasing the wages of JO and COS personnel.

“To attract competent and committed services of these JO and COS personnel in order to augment the regular/causal employees, the provincial government compensates them at a rate competitive with the private sector,” the EO reads.

Davide said the increase is just fitting since JO and COS personnel are not entitled to the benefits enjoyed by the Capitol’s regular and casual employees.

“All JO and COS personnel are hereby given a compensation increase equivalent to the first tranche salary rate corresponding to the equivalent salary grade of regular and casual employees, while all doctors will get an increase equivalent to the second tranche salary equivalent to the salary of regular doctors,” he said.

The rate for increase ranges from 2.75 percent to 22 percent, depending on the salary grade, said Budget Officer Danilo Rodas.

He said an administrative aide with salary grade 1, earning around P9,000 monthly, will get an increase of around P500.  The doctors, who earn more than P30,000 a month, will also get an increase of around P10,000, said Rodas.

“The higher the salary grade, the higher the increase,” said Rodas. The figures were based on the salary rates within the Median Private Sector.

The Capitol is currently paying JOs’ services at a daily rate equivalent to the daily basic pay of regular/casual employees, but using the rate at “one tranche lower than that presently enjoyed by regular and casual workers.”

The doctors hired as JO or COS personnel, on the other hand, are paid a daily rate equivalent to the daily basic pay of regular doctors based on the second tranche rate.

The Capitol’s 2017 Annual Budget was authorized by the Provincial Board through Resolution No. 2760-2016 enacting Appropriation Ordinance No. 2016-25, which sets aside, among other items, a lump sum appropriation for the compensation of JO and COS personnel.

Section 5 of said appropriation ordinance authorizes the governor to hire JO and COS at the rate of more than the second tranche basic pay of regular employees.

Rodas said the increase is also pursuant to Executive Order. 201 dated February 19, 2016 of the Office of the President as implemented by the Department of Budget Local Budget Circular No. 113.

The circular order  states that the salary rates of regular and casual employees and regular doctors for this year have been increased to the second tranche retroactive to January 2017.

The modified salary schedule has been implemented in four tranches since last year and will end in  2019.

Under the president’s EO, the salary adjustment would ensure that the compensation structure of government personnel is comparable with the prevailing rates in the private sector. The new salary scheme raises the minimum salary for Salary Grade 1 from P9,000 to P11,068. (FREEMAN)