PRRD hopes SSL-5 prods ‘young, brilliant’ Filipinos to join gov’t

As President Rodrigo R. Duterte expressed optimism that the passage of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 5 would encourage “young and brilliant” Filipinos to join the government, he cited the passage of SSL 5 as among his government’s accomplishments this year. (PNA File Photo)

MANILA –As President Rodrigo R. Duterte expressed optimism that the passage of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 5 would encourage “young and brilliant” Filipinos to join the government, he cited the passage of SSL 5 as among his government’s accomplishments this year.

In his fifth and penultimate State of the Nation Address, Duterte said he was also confident that public servants would be inspired to work harder now that they are enjoying a bigger take-home pay.

“The Salary Standardization Law of 2019 increases the salary of civilian government workers. I hope that this law will inspire our government workers to perform better and encourage young, brilliant citizens to join public service,” he said.

Republic Act (RA) 11466 on SSL-5, inked by Duterte on January 8, develops a new compensation system that would create an enabling environment that would promote social justice, integrity, efficiency, productivity, accountability, and excellence in the civil service.

Under RA 11466, the salary adjustment will be implemented in four tranches from 2020 to 2023.

The biggest increases, ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent by a weighted average of 23.24 percent every year until 2023, would apply to government workers under the Salary Grades 10 to 15 bracket.

Government employees with Salary Grades 1 to 10 would get a 17.5 percent to 20.5 percent raise over four years.

Those who are under Salary Grades 25 to 33 would have the lowest increase of a mere 8 percent.

About 1.4 million government workers, including public school teachers and nurses, are the beneficiaries of SSL-5.

The law was passed after Duterte certified the proposed pay hike as urgent in December last year.

The government has earmarked a total of PHP130.45 billion for the implementation of SSL-5.