Aklan government workers welcome next month’s pay hike

Kalibo, Aklan --Government workers here in Aklan are happy that they will be getting increases in their salaries effective July of this year.

Most of them said here that the increase will go a long way and would help much in their daily expenses considering the continuous rise in the prices of basic commodities.

Through President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Executive Order No. 611 authorizing compensation adjustments to government personnel, government workers are assured of getting a ten percent (10%) increase over their basic monthly salaries as of June 30, 2007. These workers are civilian government personnel whose positions are covered by the Compensation and Position Classification system under RA No. 6758, as amended effective July 1, 2007.

Civilian government personnel include officials and employees of National Government Agencies including State Colleges and Universities, Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations, Government Financial Institutions and Local Government Units.

Military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and all uniformed personnel under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine Coast Guard, and National Mapping and Resource Information Authority will also be granted a Thirty Pesos (P30) per day increase in their subsistence allowance and a One Hundred Twenty Pesos (P120) per month increase in their hazard pay effective July 1, 2007.

Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., whose office, the Department of Budget and Management, had been directed to implement the pay hike, said P10.3 billion is already reserved in this year’s budget for the salary increase.

Andaya pointed out that this is the first-ever increase in the salary of government workers since 2001.

The subsistence allowance of the military and uniformed personnel, on the other hand, was last adjusted in 1998, while the hazard pay has remained at P120/month since its last initial grant in 1987.

Andaya said this is just the start, because after President Arroyo delivers her State of the Nation Address (SONA), they are planning to file a bill which will “overhaul our compensation system, Salary Standardization Part III, and we are looking at around almost P100 billion till 2010 in the form of salary increases.” (PIA/Venus G. Villanueva)