Pay hike for teachers already included in 2020 national budget

Pay hike for teachers already included in 2020 national budget

A lawmaker said the Duterte administration is set to spend PHP110 billion for the next three years for civilian government employees, including nurses and teachers, under the proposed Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 5.

House Ways and Means Chair and Albay Representative Joey Salceda said based on the study commissioned by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations and the Department of Budget and Management (GCG-DBM), the proposed SSL 5 is expected to raise the salaries of government workers by 15 percent over a three-year span.

Salceda said that in the 2020 budget proposal there is PHP32 billion in wage increase and PHP4 billion for miscellaneous benefits.

“These has been programmed within the organic capacity of the government and need no new taxes to underwrite it,” Salceda said.

Salceda noted that the salary increase proposal would favor government employees belonging to lower salary grades (SG 1-17) will receive higher increases, while those in SG 18-33 will receive lower increases.

READ: Budget for teachers' salary increase already available

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Isidro Ungab said the new wage amendment would be implemented once the House and Senate approved the joint resolution.

According to a study by the Governance Commission for Government and Control Corporation or GCG and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the government will spend P110 billion on additional wages.

Once implemented, their wages will increase by 15 percent within 3 years. Salceda stressed that the government will not impose new taxes when SSL5 is implemented.