Salary grade of entry-level nurses raised

MANILA, Philippines – Entry-level nurses working in public hospitals and health institutions will now enjoy higher pay after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) raised their salary grade.

Last Friday, Budget Sec. Wendel Avisado issued Budget Circular 2020-4, upgrading the pay of entry-level nurses to Salary Grade (SG)-15 from SG-11.

This means entry-level nurses in public hospitals are now entitled to a salary of P32,053 to P34,801, from a previous wage of P22,316 to P24,391, based on DBM National Budget Circular No. 579.

The adjustment shall be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020, the date of effectivity of the circular, according to the DBM.

It covers all nurse positions, whether regular, casual or contractual in nature, full-time or part-time, in national government agencies, including state universities and colleges and state corporations, as well as local government units (LGUs) covered by the Compensation and Position Classification System (CPCS) under Republic Act (RA) No. 6758 or the Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989.

However, nurses in government agencies exempted from RA 6758 and implementing their own CPCS are excluded from the coverage of the circular.

With the upgrade of the salary grade for Nurse I positions, the DBM also modified the position attributes of other nurses.

Nurse II positions that previously had a salary grade of 15 are now under SG-17. Nurse III positions were also upgraded to SG-19 from SG-17, Nurse IV to SG-20 from SG-19, Nurse V to SG-22 from SG-20 and Nurse VI to SG-24 from SG-22.

According to the DBM, the new circular is pursuant to Section 32 of RA 9173 or the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, which provides a minimum base pay of not lower than SG-15 for nurses working in public health institutions.

This provision was upheld by the Supreme Court in its “Ang NARS Party-list, et. al. vs. The Executive Secretary, et. al.” decision on Dec. 13, 2019, making it final and executory.

The DBM said national government agencies may source the salary upgrade against their available Personnel Services allotments.

“In case of deficiency, the agency may submit a request to the DBM for the release of funds chargeable against the MPBF (Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund),” the agency said.

For government-owned and controlled corporations, the amount required shall be charged against their respective approved corporate operating budgets.

For LGUs, the funding requirement shall be sourced exclusively from their funds, subject to the Personnel Services limitation in their budgets.

“Such amount shall be provided for in an appropriations ordinance to be enacted by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan/Panlungsod/Bayan,” it added.