Members of different government employees associations hold a protest outside the Department of Budget and Management in Mendiola, Manila on Nov. 23, 2022, to call for the increase of minimum salaries for state workers. Mores Heramis, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Thursday said that legislation would be required to increase the minimum wage of government workers.
"Once House Bills or Senate Bills are filed, the DBM is providing comments/inputs/recommendations on the same," the department said in a statement.
It also noted that in 2023, the DBM will be implementing the final tranche in adjusting salary schedules for government workers under Republic Act 11466 or the Salary Standardization Law V.
"Hence, government employees concerned will have another salary adjustment by next year," it added.
The department said it has allotted around P47 billion under the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) budget in the 2023 national budget.
The amount will be used to support a study on the government compensation structure of different national government agencies and GOCCs.
This study, the DBM said, will "ensure that the compensation of all civilian personnel will be generally competitive with those in the private sector."
"Parallel to this effort, the DBM, as directed by the Budget Secretary, is also undertaking a review of the rates of the existing benefits being provided to qualified government employees in order to assess if these may need adjustment in the future," it said.
"On the grant of gratuity pay to job order and contract of service workers, the DBM is preparing the corresponding executive issuance for the purpose, which will be endorsed to the Office of the President for consideration."
The DBM's statement was in response to calls from groups to set the minimum wage of state workers at P33,000 per month.
According to COURAGE national president Santiago Dasmariñas Jr., the proposal to increase the minimum salary of government employees is aimed to offset soaring prices of basic goods due to inflation.
"Lalong tumaas ang presyo ng bilihin samantala ang sweldo ng mga kawani ng gobyerno lalong lalo na sa mga nasa mababang posisyon ay mababa pa rin," he said.
On Wednesday, several government employee groups held a protest outside the DBM headquarters in Mendiola, Manila to reiterate the same call.
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