Final tranche of salary hikes for gov’t workers takes effect January

By Zacarian Sarao

MANILA — The last tranche of the mandated salary hikes for government workers shall take effect in January, said the Dept. of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday.
    The fourth and final tranche is the last phase of the pay increase mandated by Republic Act (RA) 11466 or the “Salary Standardization Law of 2019,” series of 2020.
    “Government employees can look forward to receiving higher pay as the fourth and last tranche of mandated salary hikes takes effect on 01 January 2023,” said DBM in a statement.
    According to DBM, RA 11466 covers all positions for civilian personnel, whether regular, casual, or contractual in nature, appointive or elective, full-time or part-time, now existing or created in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches; constitutional commissions and other constitutional offices; state universities and colleges (SUCs); and government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) not covered by RA 10149.
    It also applies to all positions for salaried LGU personnel, whether regular, contractual or casual in nature, elective or appointive; on full-time or part-time basis, now existing or created in local government units (LGUs), and all positions for barangay personnel which are paid monthly honoraria.
    Meanwhile, those engaged without employer-employee relationship and funded from non-Personnel Services (PS) appropriations/budgets are excluded from the coverage of the Circular.
    Military and uniformed personnel, GOCCs under RA 10149, and individuals whose services are engaged through job orders, contracts of service, consultancy or service contracts with no employer-employee relationship are also excluded from RA 11466.
    The DBM said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman has already signed two separate Budget Circulars regarding the fourth tranche of Salary Schedule for civilian personnel and LGU workers.
    Meanwhile, under the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA), around P48 million was allocated under the Governance Commission for GOCCs’ (GCG) budget to support the conduct of a study on the government compensation structure of the different national government agencies and GOCCs.
    “Apart from the conduct of the study, the DBM is also undertaking a review of the rates of the existing benefits being provided to qualified government employees to assess if these may need adjustment in the future,” Pangandaman said.