Bill for civilian gov’t workers’ pay hike to be sent to House in September  

MANILA, Philippines — The bill containing the proposed salary standardization law (SSL) 5 that will again raise civilian government workers’ salary next year will be submitted to the Lower House in September, Acting Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado said Thursday.

Avisado told the House appropriations committee that the Office of the President will transmit the proposed measure to Congress next month as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had decided that the salary hike must be covered by a law.

Avisado earlier said the planned SSL 5 had a P31.1-billion funding in the proposed P4.1-trillion 2020 national budget.

He said the allocation was included in the miscellaneous personnel benefits fund.

Avisado said the amount allocated for 2020 was based on a survey study that DBM conducted in coordination with the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations (GCG).

According to Avisado, GCG was expected to submit a report in relation to the proposed salary increase within the month.

The lowest salary grade was expected to enjoy a 10-percent increase in pay under the proposal, he said.

Next year’s allocation for another round of salary raise was nonetheless lower than the P51-billion budget for this year, during which the fourth tranche of SSL 4 was implemented.

The current SSL was implemented during the past four years under Executive Order (EO) No. 201 issued by former President Benigno S. Aquino III in 2016.

The previous administration had lacked time to enact the salary adjustments into law as the measure came too close to the national elections in 2016.

The fourth tranche of salary hikes under SSL 4 was nonetheless delayed due to the late passage of the P3.7-trillion 2019 budget.

DBM data provided to the Inquirer showed that as of July, the government had over 1.2 million civilian workers. /kga