Palace hopes salary hike will motivate gov’t employees to work doubly hard

Malacañang hopes the enactment of the measure increasing the salaries of government employees will promote excellence in the service.

Signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, the Salary Standardization Law of 2019 (Republic Act 11466) mandates that the compensation adjustment would be given in four tranches starting in January 2020 and ending in 2023.

The largest increases ranged from 20 to 30% for employees under Salary Grades 10 to Salary Grades 15, while the smallest increase would be 8% for government workers under Salary Grades 23 to 33. The president is under SG 33.

“The Office of the President notes that the law is at the initiative - and has the strong support - of President Duterte pursuant to his desire to upgrade the standard of living of government employees,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said on Thursday.

Excluded from the law’s coverage are military and uniformed personnel, employees of government-owned or -controlled corporations covered by RA 10149, and individuals whose services are engaged through job orders, contracts of service, consultancy or service contracts with no employer-employee relationship.

Duterte, Vice President Leni Robredo, the present senators and congressmen are also not entitled to the salary increases.

“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,” Panelo said.

He added the new compensation scheme is 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,” Panelo said. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News