Gov’t workers can get salary increase as early as August – DBM
MANILA, Philippines — Government workers can expect higher wages this August, Budget Secretary Amenah Panagdaman said Monday.
The national and local budget circular, Panagdaman said, has been signed and will be published in the coming days. It will help agencies covered by the wage increase to compute the new salaries.
“Pwede na po silang mag-adjust, agad-agad po,” Pangandaman said at a press briefing. (They can adjust immediately.)
The department chief, however, said the exact date of implementation depends on how fast agencies are able to compute and carry out the new wages.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order 64 in August. The EO increased government salaries for civilian government personnel in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, constitutional commissions and offices, as well as government owned or controlled corporations.
Local government units are expected to implement heightened rates proportional to their class and financial capacity. The EO does not apply to military and uniformed personnel, as well as employees who are under contract of service or job orders.
Pangandaman explained that agencies like the military have different salary structures, hence their exclusion from the EO.
Schedule of wage hike, allowances. For the national government, the raise will be implemented in four tranches, with the first tranche being implemented retroactively on Jan. 1, 2024. The second tranche begins Jan. 1, 2025, the third tranche will begin Jan. 1, 2026, and the final tranche will start on January 1, 2027.
The salary increase for 2025 has already been accounted for in the National Expenditure Program, Pangandaman said.
The EO was enacted in a bid to make government salaries more competitive than that of the private sector’s. It also aimed to address the rampant inflation felt by government employees.
In addition to the wage hike, the EO also mandates a medical allowance of P7,000 per annum, beginning 2025.
