SSL-5 will result in bigger take-home pay for our civil servants-- Angara

Public servants can expect a bigger take-home pay to help them cope with their daily expenses now that the Salary Standardization Law-5 (SSL-5) has been enacted, Senator Sonny Angara said today.

Angara, who defended the SSL-5 bill when it was being debated in plenary, said the biggest increases would apply to employees with salary grades 11 to 13 or the professional level, who will see a 24.1% jump in their compensation in 2020 and to 30.7% in 2023.

The sub-professional levels or employees with salary grades 1 to 10, will see increases of 17.5% in 2019 to 20.5% in 2023.

Angara explained that the SSL-5 will be implemented in four tranches, starting this year and culminating in 2023.

"A total of P33.16 billion was allocated in the P4.1 trillion General Appropriations Act of 2020 to cover for the first tranche of salary increases under the SSL-5. For all four tranches, the total funding requirement will reach P130.45 billion," Angara said.

"This is the fulfillment of the President's promise to increase the salaries of our public servants. It is our hardworking men and women in government who ensure that our children are getting the proper education, infants and mothers in all communities are given the appropriate health services, roads and bridges are constructed; in other words, keeping our government up and running all the time," Angara added.

Under SSL-5, the lowest salary grade level employee, who is receiving P11,068 a month, will enjoy an increase in his compensation to P11,551 in 2020, to P12.034 in 2021, to P12,517 in 2022, and to P13,000 in 2023.

For Salary Grade 11 employees, which includes the entry-level teachers, they will receive an increase from P20,754 a month to P22,316 (2020), P23,877 (2021), P25,439 (2022), and P27,000 (2023).

While the teachers will already enjoy pay hikes under SSL-5, Angara said he will continue to push for further increases in their compensation, "in recognition of the very important role they play in development of our children and nation."

Angara has filed Senate Bill 131 that seeks to increase the minimum wage of public school teachers from the present Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 19.

Under Angara's proposal, the Teacher 1 level educators' salaries will go up from the present P22,316 to P46,791 a month based on SSL-5 levels.

"We hear the pleas of our teachers and understand where they are coming from. Our teachers are among the hardest workers in the bureaucracy and have long been among the lowest paid. We need to do something about this soon," Angara said.

Several bills are being heard in the Senate regarding the proposed salary increases for teachers.