DBM reviewing govt workers’ pay, focuses on competitiveness

THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it is reviewing the current benefits received by some government employees to assess if there is a need for adjustments in the future.

Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman disclosed that the agency will also conduct a study on whether all civilian personnel are receiving “competitive” compensation against private sector employment.

Pangandaman explained that the Governance Commission for GOCCS (GCG) has a P48-million budget this year to support undertaking a study on the government compensation structure of national government agencies and GOCCS.

“President Bongbong Marcos directed us to conduct a study to ensure that the compensation of all civilian personnel will be generally competitive with those in the private sector doing comparable work to attract, retain, and motivate corps of competent and dedicated civil servants,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Apart from the conduct of the study, the DBM is also undertaking a review of the rates of the existing benefits being provided to qualified government employees to assess if these may need adjustment in the future,” she added.

The DBM also announced on Wednesday that the fourth and last tranche of mandated salary hikes for government employees took effect last January 1.

The fourth tranche is the last phase of the pay increase mandated by Republic ACT 11466 or the Salary Standardization Law of 2019. The first salary increase took effect last January 1, 2020.

“The government recognizes the indispensable role of its dedicated personnel in serving our beloved country. We are firmly committed to help them amidst rising prices of goods and services. We hope this latest salary increase will cushion the impact of inflation,” Pangandaman said.

The DBM said Pangandaman recently signed two separate budget circulars on the implementation of the fourth tranche of Salary Schedule for civilian personnel and local government unit (LGU) workers.

RA 11466 covers all positions for civilian personnel, whether regular, casual, or contractual in nature, appointive or elective, fulltime or part-time, now existing or thereafter created in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches; constitutional commissions and other constitutional offices; state universities and colleges (SUCS); and government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCS) not covered by R A 10149, according to the DBM.

The DBM added that the salary hike also applies to all positions for salaried LGU personnel, whether regular, contractual or casual in nature, elective or appointive; on full-time or part-time basis, now existing or thereafter created in LGUS, and all positions for barangay personnel which are paid monthly honoraria.

“Those engaged without employer-employee relationship and funded from non-personnel Services (PS) appropriations/budgets shall be excluded from the coverage of the Circular,” it said.

“Also excluded are the military and uniformed personnel, GOCCS under RA 10149, and individuals whose services are engaged through job orders, contracts of service, consultancy or service contracts with no employer-employee relationship,” it added.