ffii*rs Insight I trwr
PI.I.OB set for three-year salary
hike for state workers - Salceda
BY WEI{DETJ. VIGIUA
ALBAYA Rep. Joey Salceda yes-
terday disclosed the government is
eyeing to spend at least P1 1 0 bilLion
to fund the salary increase of all
state workers in the next *tee yea.rs.
Salceda, chair of the House
committee on ways and means,
said the government is planning
to incrcase state workers' salades
by an avetage of 15 peiceflt to be
spread out in three yeais o! an an-
nual 6ve percent increase.
"Using the snrdy commissioned
by GCG-DBM (Governance Com- .
mission for Government-o*med and
Controlled Corporations-Depart-
ment of Budget and Marugement),
the administation is set to spend
P110 billion over thrce years for is
civil senants including nutses and
teachers," Salceda said in a statement.
Salceda, who is also a senior
vice chair of the committee on ap-
propriations, said the government
has already allocated funds fot
the implementation of the Salary
Standardization Law 5 (SSL 5) in
2020 although Congress is yet to
pass the measure.
Undet the P4.1 trilLion proposed
national budget for 2020, P32 bil-
lion was eatmarked for the first
tanche of the wage increase and
another P4 billion for miscella-
neous benefrts.
"These has been programmed
within dre organic capacity of the
govenment and need no new tixes
to underwrite it," Salceda said.
The leftJeanirg Alliance of
Concetned Teachers (ACT) ear-
lier said the allocation reeks of
favoddsm because the government
is spending P76 billion for the in-
crease in the salaries of pol.ice and
military personnel.
. ACT, which is part of the Salary
Increase Solidarity, said the alloca-
tion will or y amount to a "me asly''
P1,845 monthly inciease or P61
^ PAqs-
Tuesday, September
per day'' if the 1.2 milliolr govern-
ment employees will be given equal
pay hikes.
Public school teachers are p!o-
testing the measly pay hike, saying
state workers deserve no less than
P16, 000 for Salary Grade I em-
ployees; P30, 000 for Teacher I;
and P3 t. 000 for Insuuctor I.
salceda sald that unlke the preu
ous SSL, the new proposal will favor
employees under Salary Grades 1
to17 with higher increases while
those in Salary Grades 18-33, in-
cluding the president and congress-
men, will receive lower increases.
"The adjustments will presewe
and somewhat improve the purchas-
ing powef of civil sen"rts coniide!-
ing the consumer price inflation of
3.4 percent over the past three years
and forward estimates (of) thtee
yeat inflation (rates) of two to four
percent per year," he said.
Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu of
Batangas welcomed the planned
w,
t7, 2OLg
increase, saying it will be a huge
help for all government employees
and workets.
"We have to strengthen our
workforce and be competitive to
encowage them to stay in the civil
sen'ice instead of working {or the
private sector," he said.
A Pulse Asia suvey conducted
from June 24 to 30 showed thht
eight out of 1 0 Filipinos want new
gor€rnment salary hikes to cover
all wotkers in the pubJic sectot,
iocluding teachers.
Conducted fromjune 2430, $e
Pulse Asid survey indicated that 77
percent of FiJipinos aged 18 years
old and above agreed that salary
standardization should include all
government worken while only 1 7
percent of the tespondents waated
an exclusive salaty hike fot teach-
ers. Tbree percent disagteed with
the salary increase while anothet
three perceot replied that they
"don't knorw:"