President Arroyo approves Salary Standardization Law

President Gloria Arroyo signed Wednesday the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) III that is expected uplift the condition of country’s government employees and boost the nation’s economy.

Congress approved Joint Reso-lution 26, a Malacañang-certified measure principally authored by Sen. Edgardo Angara that would upgrade the compensation of government employees in low-level up to top positions effective July 1.

The joint resolution has sought to correct the distortions and inconsistencies in the present compensation system, taking into account the principle of equal pay for work of equal value in proposing a performance-based scheme to reward exemplary civil servants.

Salary standardization is expected to benefit the more than 1.5 million government employees by increasing their salaries, which will be given in four yearly tranches starting on July 1, 2009 until 2013.

The basic salary, including step increments, where an employee may progress from step 1 to step 8 of the salary grade allocation, will be the primary component of the compensation framework.

The framework seeks to rationalize and standardize the basic salaries, allowances, benefits and incentives for government officials and employees.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd had assured that the government has enough funds for the salary standardization that would bring salaries of government employees closer to the levels of those in the private sector.

The Civil Service Commission had found that the salaries of senior managers and highly technical personnel in government were 74 percent below their equivalents in the private sector.

The Palace said the new salary law would benefit the economy as well as it would spur continuous spending at this time of global economic crisis.

Among the main beneficiaries of the upgraded Salary Standardization bill are nurses and teachers who will have a P6,000 increase in their monthly pay at the entry level.

Earlier, Sen. Richard Gordon said public school teachers stand to benefit greatly as the Compensation and Position Classification System or the Salary Standardization Law III “proposes to increase their salaries and benefits by a total of P125.6 billion over the next four years.”

“Though the salaries of all government employees will increase, public school teachers stand to get a better deal. Under the joint resolution, a teacher who has a specialization in Science or Math will be granted a salary three steps higher in his or her assigned salary grade,” Gordon said.

Currently, a public school teacher earns P10,933 monthly. After the standard deduction, he or she takes home around P8,000. –Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter, Manila Times