President Benigno Aquino III has issued an order increasing the pay of government employees months after Congress failed to ratify a new Salary Standardization Law (SSL).
“President Aquino has signed an executive order ‘Modifying the Salary Schedule for Civilian Government Personnel and Authorizing the Grant of Additional Benefits for both Civilian and Military and Uniformed Personnel,’” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.
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Coloma said the EO would effectively implement the “first of the four tranches provided for in the proposed SSL 2015 law or SSL 4 that has not been enacted by Congress.”
He said the first tranche may be implemented in accordance to Republic Act No. 10717 or the 2016 General Appropriations Act, which already provides for a budget of P57.9 billion.
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“The President approved and signed the EO upon his arrival this morning from his participation in the Special Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-US Summit and a working visit in Los Angeles, California,” Coloma added.
Senate President Franklin Drilon was quick to laud the act, saying it was “long-awaited” by government workers.
READ: Aquino may order pay hike for gov’t workers sans SSL, Drilon says
“However, given that the president’s EO will only cover the salary hike for this year alone, the challenge to implement the full four-year salary hike as envisioned remains with lawmakers,” he said.
Drilon, one of the authors of SSL 4, said he would push for the proposed measure next Congress.
“The economy is in the right course and we take advantage of the favorable condition to raise the pay scheme in the government and align it with the compensation received by employees from the private sector,” he said.
EO no. 201 states that the minimum salary of Salary Grade 1 employees will increase from P9,000 to P11,068 a month.
It also calls for a “compensation adjustment strategy,” which aims to “bring the compensation of government personnel closer to their private counterparts to at least 70 percent of the median of the market for all salary grades.”
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the EO modified the government salary schedules and granted additional benefits to government workers.
“This action by the President leverages the benefits package in order to increase the take-home pay of government employees as stipulated in the proposed SSL bills,” he said in a statement.
“For civilian government personnel, the EO effects the adoption of the same proposals in House Bill No. 6268 and Senate Bill No. 2671 for salary increase, the grant of the mid-year bonus equivalent to one month’s basic salary, and the Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) at P5,000,” he said.
Abad said government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local government units may implement the adjustments based on existing rules and laws.
“The implementation of these compensation adjustments provided in the EO shall be effective Jan. 1, 2016, with respect to all civilian and MUP personnel. With respect to regular members of the Cabinet, the effectivity is on July 1, 2016,” he said.
The salary increase will not affect the current President, Vice President and members of Congress since it will take effect after the expiration of their terms.
“We trust that Congress will pass the SSL when it resumes so that the proposed compensation adjustments to be implemented in four tranches over four years will be permanent. With its passage, we will be able to achieve the desired outcome of the proposed SSL, which is to bring the compensation of all government workers to at least 70 percent of the market rate,” Abad said. RAM/RC