Press Release
March 9, 2015

SPONSORSHIP SPEECH: SENATE BILL NO. 2671
Committee Report No. 105

AN ACT ADOPTING AN OMNIBUS COMPENSATION AND POSITION CLASSIFICATION OF CIVILIAN PERSONNEL AND THE BASE PAY SCHEDULE OF MILITARY AND UNIFORMED PERSONNEL IN THE GOVERNMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Mr. President, Distinguished Colleagues, Ladies & Gentlemen:

Your Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization has the honor to sponsor Senate Bill No. 2671, or the Salary Standardization Law 4, under Committee Report No. 105.

In 2008, or seven (7) years ago, the Senate and the House of Representatives passed Joint Resolution No. 4 urging the President of the Republic of the Philippines to revise the existing Compensation and Position Classification System for civilian personnel and base pay of military and uniformed personnel. While there has been an almost two-fold increase in the compensation package of the thousands of civil servants all over the country, the stature of workers in the government bureaucracy has remained way below par the standard norms followed in the private sector in terms of compensation, allowances and benefits.

It is the aim of this Committee, Mr. President, to update the current base pay schedule and reinvent government bureaucratic structure for civil servants and uniformed personnel to further encourage excellent performance and productivity among them, as well as to attract competent and talented citizens to serve in the public sector.

This system will take into consideration a rationalized system that equates pay with work responsibility and skill, among others. It also seeks to foster an environment of fairness and motivation which will inculcate professionalism in the public workplace.

In the proposed bureaucratic structure, salary grades will be rearranged with Salary Grade 1 being the entry level and Salary Grade 30, the President, being the highest level. The re-classification of salary grades will be based on the competencies, nature of work, and accountability required for each job.

Further, in the improved salary scale, the base pay of the lowest grade government employee will be increased from the current PHP 9,000 to PHP 16,000; for military and uniformed personnel, base pay will range from PHP 23,200 for a candidate soldier to PHP 550,000 for a four-star general. Mr. President, this bill's purpose is not only to alleviate the plight of our civil servants, but also to prevent the exodus of professionals, scientists and highly skilled workers to better paying jobs abroad, such as what is currently happening to our teachers, doctors and meteorologists. Another reason why this Committee is pushing for this bill is because it believes that it will also serve as an anti-corruption measure. Due to the competitive compensation package, our public servants can be effectively discouraged from resorting to unscrupulous activities in order to augment their meager income, and, instead, focus their efforts and energy into serving the public, curbing corruption and cutting red tape. We recognize the vital and crucial role of high-level civil servants or career service officers and executives, and senior officers of the uniformed and police services which is why we want to provide them a decent compensation package so they will not be tempted to take perks and benefits elsewhere. Meanwhile, our civil servants serve as the public face of our government in providing our people with basic needs and public services. They are also the backbone of good governance and administration. Thus, it is a matter of duty for the government to ensure that our civil servants are cared for, and are provided the means to support their personal and family needs. In the end, it is the people who will benefit from a better compensated and corruption-free bureaucracy.

Needless to state, increasing the salaries of state workers shall also operate to increase spending and stimulate the local economy nationwide. With nearly 1.7M civil servants and uniformed personnel who are geographically dispersed throughout the country, local businesses, private corporations and even home-based businesses all over the country are bound to experience increase in sale and significant growth if and when we are able to finally and significantly increase the salaries and wages of all government workers.

In this light, I urge our colleagues to support the immediate passage of this measure.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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