Budget Secretary Amenah “Mina” Pangandaman
Starting next year, government employees will get the first two of a four-tranche salary increase totaling P70 billion which will be taken from the proposed 2025 national budget, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Thursday.
At a press briefing in Malacañang, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the proposed 2025 budget has also allotted P9.6 billion for a medical allowance of P7,000 each for government personnel. Both the pay hike and medical allowance were promised by President Marcos in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 22.
READ: DBM: Gov’t workers to get first salary increase tranche this year
“The P70 billion is for the first tranche of [a retroactive] salary adjustment for this year and for the second tranche for next year. We wanted to start the four tranches this year and spread [it] over the [next] years—so it’s from 2024 to 2027,” she said.
The DBM earlier said in a statement that the pay hike would benefit 165,007 subprofessionals; 1,170,647 professionals such as teachers and lawyers; and 22,640 personnel in executive functions.
Optimistic
Pangandaman was optimistic the DBM would be able to defend the proposed salary increase and the proposed 2025 national budget before Congress. The last pay hike for government workers was by virtue of Republic Act No. 11466, or the Salary Standardization Law of 2019, which implemented salary adjustments in four tranches from 2020 to 2023.
The 2025 budget also includes P9.6 billion to cover an annual medical allowance for government employees, according to Pangandaman.
“We will implement it next year to allow our government employees to avail of their medical allowance in the amount of P7,000 each employee,” she said.
The incentive will be given in cash to make it easier for agencies to get the services of health maintenance organizations or HMOs, she added.