Gov’t workers should be happy with proposed salary hike: Palace

House Bill 5712 is expected to raise the salaries of government workers by 15 percent over a three-year span. (File photo by Carlo Villarica/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA — Malacañang welcomed the decision of the House appropriations committee to approve the consolidated bill increasing the salary of government employees by 2020.

“If the Congress has passed that then the [government] workers should be happy,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing on Monday.

Davao 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab, committee chair, said his panel will ask President Rodrigo Duterte to certify House Bill 5712 as urgent.

Asked if it would encourage Senate to do the same, Panelo noted that the President does not interfere with any work by any co-equal branch of government.

Both chambers of Congress are expected to tackle their respective versions of the Salary Standardization Law 5 (SSL 5) during their respective sessions on Monday.

House Bill 5712 is expected to raise the salaries of government workers by 15 percent over a three-year span.

Ungab said around PHP34 billion was allocated for SSL 5’s implementation under the proposed 2020 national budget.

Last week, two Senate committees recommended the approval of their version of the SSL, Senate Bill 1219.

Around 1.4 million government employees, including public teachers and nurses, are expected to benefit from the proposed SSL 5.

The current SSL was implemented through Executive Order 201 signed by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2016 giving salary increases of civil servants in four tranches until 2019.

In his fourth state of the nation address (SONA) in July 22, President Rodrigo Duterte gave the green light for the next round of salary increases for government employees.

“I, therefore, believe that it is now time for Congress to approve a new version of the Salary Standardization Law, ngayon na (right now),” Duterte said in his SONA.

“To the teachers who toil and work tirelessly to educate our young, kasali na po dito ‘yung hinihingi ninyo (what you’re asking will be included here),” he added.

Public school teachers have sought for an increase after the salary of military, police, and other uniformed personnel were increased last year.