MANILA -- Government employees can look forward to receiving higher pay as the fourth and last tranche of mandated salary hikes takes effect on 01 January 2023.

The fourth tranche is the last phase of the pay increase mandated by Republic Act (RA) 11466 (“Salary Standardization Law of 2019” or “SSL V), series of 2020.

The first tranche took effect on 01 January 2020.

Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman underscored the value to state workers of the salary increase.

“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,” said Pangandaman.

National and local budget circular guidelines signed

Secretary 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, full-time 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 RA 10149.

SSL V 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.

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.

Study for possible round of salary increase

Meanwhile, under the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA), around P48 million has been allocated under the Governance Commission for GOCCs’ (GCG) budget to support the conduct of a study on the government compensation structure of the different 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,” Sec Pangandaman said.

“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,” Secretary Pangandaman assured.