Duterte gets salary increase of P56,526

MANILA, Philippines - A salary increase of P56,526 awaits President Duterte starting this month.

His basic monthly salary is going up from P165,752 to P222,278. In six months, his pay jumped to almost twice that of his predecessor, former president Benigno Aquino III, who received P120,000 a month.

The huge adjustment is provided under Executive Order (EO) No. 201, which Aquino signed on Feb. 19, 2016 and which mandated a four-year basic pay upgrading in the bureaucracy.

Among government officials and employees, Duterte, who holds Salary Grade 33, gets the biggest adjustment. His P222,278 salary this year will go up to P298,083 next year and to P399,739 in 2019.

He is prohibited by the Constitution from receiving any additional compensation like allowances. However, he is allowed to charge all of his living expenses to the government.

In contrast, the lowest-paid state worker, who holds Salary Grade 1, receives a P503 pay hike starting this month. His salary will go up from P9,478 to P9,981, then to P10,510 next year and to P11,068 in 2019. His base pay in 2015 was P9,000.

While the president’s salary will be more than three times the rate received by Aquino by the time the upgrading program is finished in 2019, the basic pay of the lowest-paid employee will go up only by 23 percent.

The lowest-paid public school teacher, who holds Salary Grade 11, will receive an average increase of P551.25 a year. His salary goes up to P19,620 this year from P19,077 last year, then to P20,179 next year and to P20,754 in 2019. He will have received a total of P2,205 over four years.

Teachers comprise the single biggest group of public servants. Employees holding Salary Grades 12 and 13 will get a slightly higher increase. The majority of government workers are clustered in Salary Grades 11 to 13.

The salary of the vice president, Senate president, speaker of the House of Representatives and chief justice will go up from a range of P135,376 to P148,478 last year to P177,929 to P198,255 this year, depending on the length of their service. These officials are assigned Salary Grade 32.

The rates will increase to P233,857 to P264,721 next year and to P307,365 to P353,470 in 2019.

Cabinet members, officials with Cabinet rank, senators and congressmen, who hold Salary Grade 31, will receive a substantial salary adjustment as well.

Their pay will go up from P117,086 to P128,278 last year to P152,325 to P169,357 this year, then to P198,168 to P223,950 next year and P257,809 to P295,191 in 2019.

Like their bosses, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, bureau directors and division or department heads, and those holding similar positions, will receive huge increases.

The four-year salary upgrading program covers all government workers, including soldiers and policemen, and personnel of state corporations and local government units.

In the case of soldiers and other uniformed personnel, what they will receive is not an increase in basic pay but in “provisional allowance,” hazard pay and “officers’ allowance.”

Like their civilian counterparts, low-ranking uniformed personnel will receive small adjustments, while their bosses will get substantial increases.

The provisional allowance of a private, fire, jail and police officer 1 goes up to P700 this year from P342 last year, then to P1,071 next year and P1,457 in 2019.

His hazard pay will increase to P540 this year from P390 last year, then to P690 next year and P840 in 2019.

The provisional allowance of a general and director general goes up to P35,260 this year from P14,214 last year, then to P63,977 next year and to P95,399 in 2019.

Additionally, those with the rank of captain to general (senior inspector to director general in the police) receive an officers’ allowance, ranging from P3,000 to P18,000 this year, depending on the rank, which will increase to P4,500 to P25,000 next year and to P7,000 to P35,000 in 2019.