Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman (PNA File Photo by Darryl John Esguerra)
MANILA – The first of the four-tranche salary increase for government workers that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week will start this year and will be given retroactively beginning January 2024.
In a Palace press briefing Thursday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is currently crafting the Executive Order that will detail the salary increase.
“As of now, we are perfecting the Executive Order. And we are hoping for the issuance of the Executive Order soon,” Pangandaman said.
The salary increase will run from 2025 through 2027, she added.
The DBM said it has allocated PHP70 billion in the 2025 National Expenditure Program to ensure the implementation of the initial tranches of the salary increase.
Meanwhile, some PHP36 billion have been set aside for Personnel Services expenditures under the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) in preparation for this salary hike, which the DBM previously proposed to the President.
Earlier, the DBM said the salary increase for government workers is expected to benefit 165,007 sub-professionals; 1,170,647 professionals, such as teachers and lawyers; and 22,640 personnel in executive functions.
The last time salaries of government workers were increased was in 2023, the fourth and last tranche of the Salary Standardization Law of 2019, which started in 2020.
P7K medical allowance
Meanwhile, Pangandaman also announced that a total of PHP9.6 billion has been allocated for the medical allowance of government workers starting next year.
The allocation will provide each government employee PHP7,000 for their medical allowance as a subsidy to avail of Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) benefits or HMO-type benefits.
The annual medical allowance may be used for various medical services, helping public employees be prepared for any health-related emergencies, the budget chief explained. (PNA)
