Raise on way for gov’t workers, military personnel

STARTING Monday, the budget department will be releasing to various government agencies a total of P24 billion to cover the additional salaries of civilian employees and the new allowances of military and uniformed personnel, Budget Secretary Butch Abad said Saturday.

The money to be released by the Department of Budget and Management will be sourced from the miscellaneous personnel benefits fund in the P3.002-trillion 2016 budget.

The initial tranche of pay adjustments granted by Executive Order (EO) No. 201 signed by President Aquino earlier this month will require P57 billion, the bulk of which would be released within the first half of the year.

“Of the P24 billion, P18.64 billion will augment the compensation of civilian personnel, while P5.36 billion will go to the allowances and hazard pay of military and uniformed personnel,” Abad said.

The pay-out for civilian workers and military and uniformed personnel is based on data from the Government Manpower Information System which show the number of filled positions as of Dec. 31, 2015.

According to Abad, the balance of P33 billion has been “set aside for newly filled positions and for the midyear bonus, which will be released not earlier than May 15 of this year.”

The appropriations for civilian personnel include the following: Salary differential, step increment due to length of service, 13th-month pay differential, PhilHealth differential, employees compensation insurance premiums differential, and retirement and life insurance premiums differential.

That of military and uniformed personnel will cover the monthly provisional allowance, monthly officers’ allowance as well as the increase in monthly hazard pay to P390 from the P240.

Immediate implementation

“We want to ensure the immediate implementation of the new salary rates and the release of the pay and allowance differentials as the compensation adjustments apply retroactively to the start of the year,” Abad said.

He explained that the first tranche of salary adjustments included a midyear bonus equivalent to one month’s salary and a productivity enhancement incentive in the amount of P5,000.

“Given that benefits not exceeding P82,000 are exempt from tax, public servants with salary grades 1 to 11 will receive both bonuses tax-free, while salary grades 12 to 16 will receive the entirety of their midyear bonus,” Abad said.

Employees of government-owned an -controlled corporations (GOCCs) are “included in the compensation adjustment, provided that they are not covered by Republic Act No. 10149, which establishes a separate compensation and classification system for GOCC personnel,” he said.

GOCCs covered by EO No. 201 will pay their employees’ salary adjustments out of their corporate funds, Abad said.