Palace: Public teachers, nurses to benefit most from 2019 SSL

MANILA, Philippines — Public teachers and nurses will benefit the most from the 2019 Salary Standardization Law (SSL) that will once again increase the pay of government workers, Malacañang said Thursday.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed Wednesday the latest package of government salary hike that will be implemented in four tranches starting January 2020.

“I’m sure this law will benefit those hardworking men and women in the government including the most neglected sector in the bureaucracy, and I refer to the teachers and the nurses,” Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing.

The President fast-tracked the approval of the measure when he certified it as urgent, allowing Congress to hasten the passage of the bill on second and third reading before sessions adjourned for the holidays.

“Of course the desire of the President is to upgrade the standard of living of government employees and this measure will rationalize the compensation of all civilian personnel, including those in the legislative and judicial branches as well as of the local government units under certain conditions,” Panelo said.

“The purpose of which is to create an atmosphere which would promote excellence in the service providing for a performance-based incentive scheme to reward outstanding public servants,” he added.

More than 1.4 million civil servants, including public school teachers and nurses, are expected to benefit from the 2019 SSL.