DBM: Gov’t workers can expect more benefits in coming months

Government employees can expect a salary increase and more benefits in the coming months due to increased revenue collections, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said President Arroyo has ordered his department and the Civil Service Commission to see how state employees’ salaries could be raised.

The P1,000 monthly raise recently given covers only allowances and not their basic salaries.

"We are now studying a possible increase in the salaries and not the allowances. I think in the coming months there will be some good news to deliver to you," Andaya said in an interview over radio station dzRB.

"We are trying to address the problems of our state workers because we are losing the professionals (to more lucrative jobs). We will be able to unveil a new package in the coming weeks," he said.

Under Memorandum Order No. 208, Mrs. Arroyo ordered the DBM to look into reforms that could be instituted in the government salary scale to satisfy the clamor for pay increases.

Government employees continue to seek a pay raise despite the P1,000 per month allowance increase that was implemented in January due to rising prices.

"Such clamor cannot be fully satisfied by piecemeal legislation authorizing increases in allowance, which merely serve as interim measures," she said in the memo.

"We want to also answer directly all the other concerns of government employees regarding compensation and other benefits," Andaya said.

On Feb. 28, Mrs. Arroyo issued Administrative Order 144 announcing an additional monthly allowance of P1,000 for government workers. She said she could no longer wait for Congress to pass the bill granting the increase.

In MO 208, Mrs. Arroyo calls for a "sustainable compensation reform" that will take into account the salary standardization and her administration’s fiscal targets.

Last February, Mrs. Arroyo raised the expanded value-added tax rate to 12 percent, a measure that was the centerpiece of her economic plan to bridge the budget deficit and avoid a possible fiscal crisis that could derail the nation’s economic recovery.

The expanded tax is expected to bring in billions of pesos in additional funding.