Gov’t nurses may enjoy pay hike by January 2020 — Lacson

MANILA, Philippines — As early as January 2020, government nurses may finally enjoy their much-needed pay hike once Congress passes the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget bill by December, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Thursday.

“They don’t have to wait six months or another year. By January, once we enact the GAA (General Appropriations Act) for 2020, ang salary upgrade nila is (their salary upgrade is) taken care of,” Lacson, one of the vice-chairpersons of the Senate contingent to the bicameral conference committee tackling the national expenditure plan, said in a statement.

Senate earlier adopted the said amendment to the P4.1-trillion national budget bill which the senator had proposed in compliance with the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision (G.R. 215746).
READ: Senate OKs 2020 budget on third, final reading

The High Tribunal has upheld the validity of a provision in the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 which states that the minimum base pay of government nurses should not be lower than Salary Grade 15.

READ: SC says nurses entitled to P30,000 basic pay

The P3 billion needed to fund the implementation of the SC ruling will be sourced from appropriations for staffing modifications and upgrading of salaries or the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF).

As the funds are already there under MPBF, government nurses need not wait for the passage of legislation or the availability of funds to be provided by the Department of Budget and Management, according to Lacson.

Following the Senate’s approval of the 2020 General Appropriations Bill, the two chambers of Congress will now meet in a bicameral conference meeting to reconcile their versions of the budget bill before ratifying the same and forwarding such to President Rodrigo Duterte.

Edited by MUF