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Gov't workers to get 4th tranche of salary hike in February —Diokno


Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno  gave his assurance on Friday that the fourth tranche of the salary increase for government workers will be implemented by February, and that state employees will be entitled to their salary differential.

The budget chief made the statement a few days after announcing that the scheduled wage hike for government workers this year may only be implemented once the 2019 budget is passed into law.

“With pronouncements from Congress that budget bill will be their top priority upon resumption next week, we expect the GAA(General Appropriations Act) to be signed first week February,” Diokno said.

Earlier, Diokno said there would be no legal foundation for the fourth salary adjustment without the proposed 2019 general appropriations law enacted.

He told reporters that the DBP “cannot implement the scheduled hike for 2019 without legal basis, which is still pending in Congress."

Hike in 2020 under study

According to the Budget Secretary, government workers will enjoy an additional salary hike scheduled in 2020. 

The DBM said the Governance Commission For GOCCs (GCG) is contracting an independent firm to conduct a study on the wage structure of government workers vis-a-vis their private sector counterparts.

"The DBM will be utilizing this data to craft a new salary schedule for government workers to be implemented starting 2020,"  their press release read.

It added that the funding for the conduct of the study has already been allocated to the agency budget of the GCG for fiscal year 2019.

"Currently, the GCG is conducting Early Procurement for the independent researcher so they may proceed with the conduct of the study as soon as the 2019 General Appropriations Act is passed," the DBM said.

Malacañang has made an urgent call for Congress to pass the 2019 budget immediately, emphasizing that further delays in approval would affect the salary of state workers and hamper the implementation of government projects. —LDF, GMA News

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