Gov’t workers to get pay hike, bonus on August

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said on August 12, that government workers can expect higher wages and mid-year bonuses to be released as early as this month.

Pangandaman announced at a press briefing that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has already issued the guidelines on the pay hike.

“Retroactive from January [2024], kasama din ang mid-year bonus,” Pangandaman said.

She noted that the raise and bonus will be released in August, will depend on the government agency.

“Itong month na ito maibibigay ang retroactive nila [pero] depende sa agency,” she added.

According to Pangandaman, the national and local budget circular was signed on August 12 and is expected to be published on August 13.

Pangandaman noted that, in the meantime, she has sent the guidelines to the government agencies covered by the wage increase to start “the computation of the adjustment.”

“Pwede na po silang mag-adjust, agad-agad po,” Pangandaman said.

“So it’s up to the departments now, agencies at lahat na mag-implement ng adjustment para mapabilis ang pag release ng adjustments na ito,” she added.

The DBM earlier announced that the first tranche of salary increase will be implemented retroactively on January 2024, followed by the yearly salary adjustments from January 2025 to January 2027.

Pangandaman said that the salary adjustment for 2025 has already been accounted for in the National Expenditure Program.

On August 2, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order 64 to increase government workers’ salaries across all pay grades and step increments.

The wage hike will cover all civilian government workers in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches; constitutional commissions and offices; government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCC); and local government units.

The EO, however, excludes workers who are under job order, contracts of service, consultancy, service contracts with no employee-employer relationship, or GOCCs covered by a separate compensation system.

Aside from the pay hike, the EO also mandated a medical allowance of P7,000 per annum, starting 2025.

Pangandaman clarified that while government workers are expected to receive the benefits under EO 64, the exact date of its implementation depends on how fast the agencies compute the new salaries.