House gives final OK to bill hiking pay of gov't workers, shows salary table for 1st tranche

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on third and final reading the measure increasing the salary of government employees starting next year.

Voting 187 in the affirmative and five in the negative, the chamber approved House Bill 5712 or the proposed Salary Standardization Law of 2019, only two days after it was approved in the committee level and on second reading.

The salary adjustments will be implemented in four tranches beginning January 1, 2020 until 2023.

The proposal was based on a study conducted by the Department of Budget and Management together with a private consulting firm to ensure that government pay is competitive with that of the private sector.

The table shows the first tranche of proposed salary schedule of government employees beginning January 1 next year:

Apart from the salary increases, the measure also mandates the grant of mid-year bonus to government workers equivalent to one month salary as of May 15 of a given year, provided that they have rendered at least four months of service and are still in service by the same day.

In voting "no" for the approval of the bill, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate said he opposes not the increases in the salary but the chamber's lack of intention to provide "livable" incomes to government workers.

He said it is insulting that the government is providing its workers with a salary increase of only P483 every year.

"Mga kapwa ko mga kinatawan, ngayong araw ay nagpapasa kayo ng P3.22 na pandagdag sa pang-araw-araw na gastusin ng isang tao," Zarate said.

"Walang mabibiling kahit ano ang isang buhay na tao sa P3.22 lalo pa at sa harap ng TRAIN Law, ng patung-patong na buwis at patuloy na pagmahal ng mga bilihin," he added.

For her part, Gabriela Women's Party Rep. Arlene Brosas said the proposed increase is still short of the P16,000 national minimum salary that government workers have been demanding.

"Ang panawagan ng Gabriela Women’s Party at ng buong Makabayan ay ang pagkilala sa dignidad at pagsisikap ng ating mga kawani sa pamamagitan ng pag-aangat ng minimum na salary sa disenteng antas," she said.

"This measure goes to the opposite direction by further institutionalizing depressed incomes of rank and file government workers despite the back-to-back blows of higher taxes and rising prices due to intensified trade liberalization of agriculture and services," she added.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday issued a certificate of urgency on the bill, which allows Congress to skip the three-day rule and pass the measure on third reading immediately after it is passed on second reading.

On the day the certificate was issued, the Senate approved the counterpart measure of the bill on third reading, while the House passed it in the committee level and on second reading.

House Committee on Appropriations chair Isidro Ungab said a total of P34.2 billion has been allocated under the miscellaneous personnel benefits fund for its implementation next year.

The Senate has already approved on final reading their version of the bill on Monday. — MDM, GMA News