Saturday, April 12, 2008 Gov't workers to get extra pay starting July 1
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to flesh out the appropriations authority given by Congress to increase by 10 percent the basic pay of National Government employees effective July 1 this year.
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the agency is running some numbers and will submit before May 1 a recommendation to President Arroyo on the scope and dimensions of the pay increase.
Andaya said his office is now drafting an executive order (EO), similar to the one issued by the President in March last year which granted a 10 percent increase in the basic salary of civilian employees in the National Government, and a P1,200 increase in the monthly subsistence and other allowances of policemen, soldiers and other uniformed personnel.
"On our part, the EO will be ready for signing before Labor Day. Our instruction is to rush it," Andaya said.
He said the General Appropriations Act for 2008 includes a P41 billion allocation for Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF).
"The fund can be used for any salary adjustment and associated benefits as may be authorized by law or by the President of the Philippines," the budget chief explained, quoting a provision in the national budget.
Andaya said a 10 percent increase in the basic pay of 898,849 National Government employees will cost P9.216 billion for six months.
"A similar increase in the basic pay of an estimated 277,905 soldiers, policemen, firemen, jail guards, and Coast Guard personnel will cost an additional P2.84 billion for the same period," he said.
Unlike last year when the increase was tucked in their subsistence allowance, this year's pay increase for uniformed personnel will be pegged on their basic pay.
Andaya said the P12.05 billion cost of the July compensation adjustment covers six months only. A full year requirement, which will be factored in the 2009 budget, will be around P24 billion.
"By next year, the total cost of the three salary increases will be around P60 billion a year, which speaks volumes on how this government has treated with concern the welfare of its personnel," he said.
But aggregate cost is bigger because government, as an employer, will have to pay bigger counterpart contributions for pension dues and health insurance as a result of increase in the salary of its employees.
The pay increase will be the third in 30 months in the public sector, the first being the P1,000 across-the-board grant in additional allowance which took effect in January 2006.
The second installment, Andaya said, was the 10 percent increase in the base pay which was authorized through EO 611, signed on March 16, 2006 by the President but took effect July 1, 2006. (Press release)
