Laoag City to implement new salary increase for City Hall workers

By Dominic B. dela Cruz

Staff reporter

Laoag City—The city government here is set to implement a compensation adjustment this year for City Hall employees.

The adjustment is based on the Local Budget Circular issued by President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III on February 19, 2016 thru Executive Order No. 201 series of 2016. The said EO is entitled “Modifying the Salary Schedule for Civilian Government Personnel and Authorizing the Grant of Additional Benefits for Both Civilian and Military and Uniformed Personnel”.

Coverage of this circular include all positions for salaried LGU personnel whether regular, contractual or casual in nature, elective or appointive, full time or part time, and positions from barangay personnel which are paid monthly honoraria.

However, those hired without employee-employer relationships and funded from the non-personnel services are excluded in the circular.

With this order city government accountant Edgar Pascual said Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas has instructed him and other members of the local finance committee to implement the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 4 this year.

Mr. Pascual said the finance committee has received the guidelines relative to the salary increase and requested all city department offices to implement budget-saving measures to fund the salary adjustment.

He explained that the salary adjustment was not anticipated by the city government and thus was not included in this year’s annual budget.

Based on the initial computation of the City Budget Office, the city government needs at least P15 million to implement the said increase for this year alone plus another P15 million for the additional bonuses.

The guidelines states that aside from the 13^th month pay, there should also be a mid-year bonus equivalent to one-month basic salary and should be given not earlier than May 15 of every year.

It also includes the Enhancement Incentive (PEI) in the amount of P5,000 to qualified government personnel to be given not earlier than December 15 of every year subject to the specific guidelines to be issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Mr. Pascual assured the implementation of the salary increase this year; however, he could not specify the time when it will be implemented. He stated that this depends on the availability of funds.

The Ilocos Times learned that the increase for every employee depends on the schedule given by the DBM.

The amounts required to its implementation shall be sourced exclusively from the LGU funds subject to the PS limitation in LGU budgets and such amount shall be authorized through an appropriation ordinance to be enacted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

The implementation shall not be earlier than January 1, 2016 subject to the authorization from the sanggunian.

The last salary increase was implemented during the administration of former President Gloria M. Arroyo.