President Rodrigo Duterte wanted a higher salary for nurses and other government employees through enactment of a new Salary Standardization Law.
Duterte asked both houses of Congress for the immediate passage of SSL during his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City on Monday, July 22.
“I therefore believe that it is now time for Congress to approve a new version of the Salary Standardization Law. Ngayon na,” said Duterte.
“This is intended to increase salaries of national government workers, including teachers and nurses,” he added.
SSL is a legislative measure to modify the compensation and position classification system of civilian government workers. The current SSL approved by former President Noynoy Aquino in 2015 and implemented starting January 2016 is now in its 4th and final tranche.
Entry level pay of nurses in government is pegged at Salary Grade 11, which is at P20,754 at Step 1. Nurses under Department of Health Human Resource for Health Deployment Program are currently receiving SG 15 rate of P30,531.
Should the new SSL will be approved, Duterte said that the salary increase will not be big, but it will be enough.
Duterte’s pronouncement in SONA about salary increase through a new SSL is in harmony with the bill that his former aide and now Senator Bong Go filed in Senate.
Go filed his first ten legislative measures July 2, which included Senate Bill 200 – An Act Modifying the Salary Schedule for Civilian Government Personnel.
The bill seeks to increase the salary of civilian government personnel including teachers and nurses serving in public institutions.