Department of Budget Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman yesterday said workers in government may start receiving the increase in their salary as early as this month following the signing and issuance of the National and Local Budget Circulars which kick off the implementation of the sixth Salary Standardization (SSL VI) for civilian government personnel.
Pangandaman, in a chance interview in Malacañang, said the midyear bonus of the government workers will also be given this month along with the salary increase.
Retroactive from January, including the mid-year bonus,” she said.
During an episode of Malacañang Insider, Pangandaman said the implementing rules and regulations of Executive Order (EO) No. 64, which implements the SSL VI, is expected to be published by Tuesday and would take effect 15 days after publication, but copies of the national and local government guidelines had immediately been sent to the different agencies, including some government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC), constitutional offices and commissions, and local government units (LGU) for their guidance.
She said the IRR would enable government agencies to compute the salary adjustments of their respective personnel and eventually enable the release of the corresponding budget for the hike.
Pangandaman said the adjustment would be given based on how fast the agencies can compute the adjustments.
“It might be given this month including the retroactive adjustment, depending on the agency. Our agencies should be quick in computing the adjustments,” she said.
She reiterated the first tranche of adjustment starts in January 2024. The second tranche would be in January 2025, to be followed by the third tranche in January 2026 and the fourth tranche in January 2027.
For some GOCCs, the retroactive application of the first tranche shall be subject to their capacity to pay and in compliance with other requirements under existing laws.
For LGUs, including barangay personnel who receive monthly honoraria, the hike would be effective starting August 2024 or when the EO on the salary hike was issued. The amount would also be dependent on the class and financial capability of the LGUs.
Pangandaman said the P7,000 medical allowance promised by the President in his State of the Nation Address last month would be given starting 2025.
She said the average hike for the whole four years would be around 18 percent and would be equal to about 83 percent of the salaries given to government employees’ counterparts in the private sector.
The DBM said for employees under the sub-professional level or those receiving salary grades (SG) 1 to 10, the increase is between 4 percent and 5.2 percent; professional level (SGs 11 to 24), from 4.5 to 5.6 percent; managerial level (SGs 25 to 28), within 4.15 to 4.40 percent; executive level (SGs 29 to 31), from 2.65 to 3.9 percent; and for top leaders (SGs 31 to 33), the increase will be from 2.35 percent to 2.4 percent.
According to the DBM, the salary hikes under EO 64 shall only take effect for the President and Vice President of the Philippines and members of the Congress “after the expiration of the respective terms of the present incumbents.”
Also exempted from the hike are members of the military and uniformed personnel, and some GOCCs covered by Republic Act No. 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011.
Pangandaman said the government needed around P36 billion for the first tranche of hike, with around P19 billion sourced from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund and the remaining balance from the unprogrammed appropriations in the 2024 budget.
She said for 2025, P70 billion had been allocated for the second tranche.
There are around 1.3 million workers in the government at present, noted Pangandaman.
The last time that a salary hike was implemented was from 2020 to 2023 under the Salary Standardization Law of 2019.
