Duterte signs law increasing salary of government workers

January 9, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill that increases salary of over a million government workers.

Republic Act No. 11466, otherwise known as the "Salary Standardization Law of 2019," was inked by Duterte on January 8.

"The compensation of all civilian personnel shall generally be competitive with those in the private sector doing comparable work in order to attract, retain and motivate a corps of competent and dedicated civil servants," the law said.

The modified salary schedule for civilian personnel will be implemented in four tranches, with the first tranche beginning Jan. 1 this year, and every year after, with the fourth and last tranche starting Jan. 1, 2023.

Covered by the new law are the civilian government personnel in the executive, legislative and judicial branches, constitutional commissions and other constitutional offices, government-owned or -controlled corporations not covered by RA 10149, and the local government units.

The Act also covers government personnel whether regular, contractual or casual, appointive or elective, and on full-time or part-time basis.

Excluded from the Act are the military and uniformed personnel; GOCCs under RA 10149 which shall be covered by a Compensation and Position Classification System established by the Governance Commission for GOCCs and approved by the President of the Philippines; and individuals whose services are engaged through job orders, contracts of service, consultancy or service contracts with no employer-employee relationship.

Pursuant to Section 6 of Article VII and Section 10 of Article VI of the Constitution, the salaries authorized for the President, Vice-President, and members of Congress shall take effect only after the expiration of the respective terms of the present incumbents.

This means for example, Duterte, being the president with the highest Salary Grade of 33, could not receive the salary hike amounting to as much P407,734 monthly supposedly beginning this year under this Act. Celerina Monte/DMS