The Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) says that the proposed salary adjustment by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is totally unfair for the 1.4 million employees who toil for almost 12 hours everyday despite the low salary.
BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA
Bulatlat
During the Sept. 3 National Budget hearing in the House of Representatives, Budget Secretary Rolando G. Andaya Jr., said that the national government has earmarked, for the proposed Salary Standardization Law 3 (SSL3), P20 billion (US$428.68 million) from the proposed P1.4 trillion ($30.07 billion at the Sept. 19 exchange rate of $1:P46.56) national budget for next year. This, he said, will be used for the first tranche of the SSL3 in 2009.
The SSL3 will be implemented over a four-year period, beginning next year, according to Andaya.
According to Andaya, if the SSL3 is implemented, those who hold the rank of Teacher I and Nurse I in 2009, will have a salary increase from P12,026 to P13,542 or 12.6 percent higher than their current salary rates.
When SSL3 is implemented in full, their rate shall be at P18,088 per month.
On the other hand, Medical Officers I (doctors) and Legal Officers I (lawyers) will have an increase by 79.2 percent from P15,181 to P27,198, said Andaya.
The budget secretary also said that the two grade levels for teachers and nurses will also be upgraded from Grade 10 to Grade 11, while for doctors and lawyers are from Grade 14 to Grade 16.
Utility workers and those who are in clerical positions will on the average receive a 30-percent salary increase.
Unfair
However, the Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) says that the proposed salary adjustment by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is totally unfair for the 1.4 million employees who toil for almost 12 hours everyday despite the low salary.
Calling the SSL3 a “recycled version” of the Government Classification and Compensation Act earlier filed in Congress, which essentially gave higher compensation to professionals and executives and “starvation pay” to the rank and file as benchmark, Courage national president Ferdinand R. Gaite said implementing SSL3 would be like giving more meat to those who are already full while at the same time throwing only crumbs to those who are really hungry.
“Those who need the increase more should get the higher adjustments. The P20-billion allotment for pay hikes in the proposed national budget should benefit the metro aides, clerks, drivers, machine operators, public school teachers, nurses and other public health workers and other employees who are at the front-line of delivering vital services to the public. Otherwise, it will be another self-serving piece of legislation and an affront to the employees,” he explained.
Gaite accused the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government of driving a wedge between those who earn more and have allowances, pork barrel, discretionary funds and other privileges at their disposal.
The militant leader also said that any salary increase, both for private and public sector workers, must be on the basis of social justice, not patronage.
In 2006 the government implemented a what was supposed to be a P1,000 across-the-board salary increase grant. But not all government employees benefited from it.
“Most of the workers from the local government units (LGUs) did not get increases in their salary,” he said. Gaite added that many local government employees who got salary increases did so through the savings of their respective LGUs.
Gaite said that government workers’ unions must be strong and united to be able to negotiate for salary increases.
To date, the lowest paid government employee receives a gross pay of around P6,126, sans mandatory deductions like withholding tax, GSIS and PAG-IBIG premiums, etc.
Gaite stressed that they are still for a P3,000 across-the-board nationwide salary increase but definitely shall oppose the “outrageous pay hike biased for top officials.” (Bulatlat)
UNFAIR is the word. This law shows how selfish these men in the congress and senate are! Of course they belong to the higher salary grades so the increase is very much high. And they are discriminating us lowly paid local government officials.. Kumakain din kami at ang pamily namin ah.. atsaka just to make it clear kami yung nasa dirty works ng mga trabaho ng mga boss namin… And lastly and more importantly bomoto rin kami at boboto kami ngayong May 13. So I would really choose wisely I will check out who among our incumbent law makers approved and favored this law/
I support the lowering of optional retirement age from 60 to 55 among government employees especially for Teachers. This will help reduce unemployment rate.
paano po ang employees ng duty free phils
SSL3 implementation for LGU (Pto. galera) is really unfair for those employees on lower positions and for those whose duty is outside the municipal building.Department Heads especially the Budget Officer received 25% salary increase and other employees were based on their salary grade and step increment that’s why some of the employees were not entitled on salary increase for 2 consecutive years.Why these things happened?
SSL 3 is truly unfair to LGUs. 1st (E.O 811), 2nd (E.O.900), 3rd and 4th trance of SSL 3 implementation for LGU delays for six months or two years salary increase excluding the 4 (2009-2012) 13th month pays or bonuses. This is therefore a salary standardization for national employees and salary sub-standardization for LGU's employees.
even if the government will fully implement the salary standardization law of the teacher still it is not enough because teachers in the public school specially those who are teaching 6-7 subject per day is a burden already to prepare such bulk of visual aid…. lesson plan ,,,, almost 10 pesos per subject per day we cut it from our salary to provide visual aid.. 70 x 24 school days = 1680 per month.. or let may say 1000 per month…… plus you slept late ….. please NOY our President help us teachers
for all the math and science teachers there, kindly scrutinize the Dep Ed memo carefully if it goes with the intention of the congress. please email me also of the Conressional act regarding SSL 3 particularly stating the math and science teachers concern
this is just an inquiry to the Dep Ed Memo no. 203 s. 2010. the Dep Ed has cites several requirements before a math or science teacher may have the chance to avail of the benefits of step 3. for all the teachers know, the intention of the congress is clear enough to extend benefits to science and math teachers to encourage them to stay in the country, however with this implementation we are sure that math and science teachers diaspora will still continue. the intention of the congress is to grant math and science teachers of the benefits, but if we look into the contents of the Dep Ed. Memo, as if tyhey would not want to give to the teachers. there may be invalid classification of math and science teachers in big and small schools.
Are all the administrative officers not discharging their duties efficiently and effectively that their existence and the importance of their functions seem not seen and felt by the framers of Salary Standardization Law?
mabuti pa magpa member kayo sa BANGSAMORO DEV'T COUNCIL (BEDCO)PARA HINDI NA KAYO MAG AAWAY SA INCREASE SA GOBYERNO. HAHAHA MGA TANGA.
nganu man nang increase SA jULY WA MAN LABOT LGU, unya paman jan 2010? Pagshure mo unsa man ning LGU dili taga gobyerno? Dili mokaon? Wala manginahanglan?…
This SSL3 only gives more to the rich than lower paid gov't workers, this is very unfair and it LOOKS okay because the government shows it by PERCENTAGE not the actual increase in commercials which shows that low-paid workers get only about P500 more or less increase..
Mas mabuti pa ung calls ng COURAGE na 3000 across the board which i think will narrow down the gap between gov't workers..
The work of the working president is working for you [elites]..
eversince that the basis for salary increase for government employees were based on persentage against it’s present salary grade or basic salary, the lower paying employee such as those utility workers or those with low salary grades were already at a lost. Example: At 10% salary increse/annum, those whose basic income are within P5000.00 x 10% will only received P500.00 increase per month but those receiving P20,000 x 10%, a P2,000.00/month increase will be added to their basic salary. The government is simply making the gap between lowly paid government employee and official bigger. I think this disparity could be corrected simply by giving a fix increase to all employees and not by percentage. Hope our legislators would read and hear our cries…
you are somewhat correct on your comment. there are many low income govt. employees like utilities and the like. We support you on your cries. Simply because one time I belong to those employee whose salary grade belongs to the low income ones so I know the feeling of receiving a lower pay than those only chosen fews who receive a higher income but doing nothing. God Bless Us who support and hear our cries.
why is it that there is no uniformity in the schedule of the implementation of the SSL III? the National govt employees will be getting their increase beginning July 1, 2009 while we in the lgu's will start on jan 2010? what is the reason behind this disparity? are we not govt employees too? its totally unfair.. lgu employees will surely not forget this on May 2010 elections..
i think the early retirement scheme or rationalization be implemented.. there are many unproductive employees who just waits for their salary are still serving.. and an across the board increase is also necessary
MANY GOCC'S AND OTHER GOV'T AGENCIES WERE NOT ACTUALLY INCOME OR REVENUE GENERATING AGENCIES. WHY NOT ISSUE A CIRCULAR GIVING MORE INCENTIVE TO THOSE AGENCIES WHICH ARE BASICALLY A CONTRIBUTOR TO THE GOV'T RELATED REVENUE FUNDS PARTICULARLY THE LGU'S
i suggest to the govt. of the philippine republic in the far east asia instead of ssl scheme rank and file employees prefer accross the board increase wherein circulars must be issued at an earlier date for immediate availment…thanks…
our president always gives the best to those who already rich
IT'S ABSOLUTELY UNFAIR TO THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES WHOSE SALARY GRADE ARE LOW
I support the lowering of optional retirement age from 60 to 55 among government employees which include local government workers. Please support the immediate passage of House Bill no.3032 passed by Congressman Bernard F. Pinol, of the 2nd District, North Cotabato. Retirement attrition shall ensure a more vital and vibrant bureaucracy.
Can I have the matrix of pay structures because of the passage of the Salary Standardization Law 3? Thanks
We strongly suggest for the reduction of optional retirement age from 60 to 55 among civilian government employees. We support the implementation of the early retirement program which was offered during the former Pres. Aquino. Tnx….
We push for the early retirement program prior to the implementation of the SSLIII.
Pls. post the salary schedule of SSL III. Thanks……..
We suggest that before implementing the SSLIII, an early retirement scheme/plan be offered first to those interested employees. We're pretty sure a lot of employees will grab this opportunity.