State workers’ take-home pay to increase with signing of SSL-5
Government employees will get a bigger take-home pay this year with
President Duterte’s signing into law of the Salary Standardization Law-5 (SSL-5), Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said on Thursday.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo expressed hope that workers in the public sector will now strive to work harder in their respective fields following the signing of the SSL-5.
In a statement, Panelo said the new compensation scheme was competitive with those of the private sector to attract or maintain talented human resources.
“The Palace hopes that this latest round of salary adjustment will motivate everyone in the public sector to work doubly hard and put more dedicated and competent service in their respective jobs,” he said Thursday.
Angara, chair of the Senate finance committee, and who defended the proposed SSL-5, said the biggest increases would apply to employees in salary grades 11 to 13 or the professional level.
The senator said state employees in these brackets will see a 24.1 percent increase in their compensation in 2020 and up to 30.7 percent in 2023.
On the other hand, sub-professional levels or employees with salary grades 1 to 10 will see increases in their salary of 17.5 percent to 20.5 percent in 2023.
The SSL-5 will be implemented in four tranches starting this year and culminating in 2023.
The government allocated 133.16 billion in the 14.1-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2020 to cover the first tranche of salary increases under SSL-5.
“For all four tranches, the total funding requirement will reach
1130.45 billion,” Angara said.
“This is the fulfillment of the President’s promise to increase the salaries of our public servants. It is our hardworking men and women in government who ensure that our children are getting the proper education, infants and mothers in all communities are given the appropriate health services, roads and bridges are constructed; in other words, keeping our government up and running all the time.”
Under the new law, the lowest salary grade level employee receiving 111,068 a month will enjoy an increase in his compensation to 111,551 in 2020, to 112,034 in 2021, to 112,517 in 2022, and to
113,000 in 2023. Entry-level teachers and other employees receiving Salary Grade 11 will receive an increase from
120,754 a month to 122,316 in
2020, 123,877 in 2021, 125,439 in 2022, and 127,000 in 2023.
Panelo said the measure will rationalize the compensation of all civilian personnel, including those in the Legislative and Judicial branches, as well as of the Local Government Units under certain conditions, for the purpose of creating an atmosphere which would promote excellence in the service.
It also provides for a performancebased incentive scheme to reward outstanding public servants.
“The law is aimed at benefitting those hardworking men and women in the government, including our teachers and nurses who unfortunately have been
neglected in the past,” he said.
Angara said he will continue to pursue further increases in the compensation of teachers even if they are already enjoying pay hikes under SSL-5.
“(This is) in recognition of the very important role they play in development of our children and nation,” he said.
“We hear the pleas of our teachers and understand where they are coming from. Our teachers are among the hardest workers in the bureaucracy and have long been among the lowest paid. We need to do something about this soon,” the lawmaker said.