Pres. Arroyo to grant 10% pay hike to gov’t workers

EO to be signed this Wednesday - Ermita

In time for Labor Day, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to sign an executive order that will grant a 10 percent increase in the salaries of the country's more than one million state workers, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced Wednesday.

Ermita said the President would sign the order Wednesday afternoon when she returns to Manila from this province where she was a guest at the second Strong Republic Nautical Highway Conference.

Arroyo has directed Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. to flesh out the details of the increase, to take effect on July 1.

The order is similar to the one the President issued last year when she also granted a 10 percent increase in the basic salaries of employees in the national government and a P1,200 raise in the monthly subsistence and other allowances of policemen, soldiers, and other uniformed personnel.

The increase for the 898,848 national government employees will cost P9.216 billion, the budget department said.

Meanwhile the adjustment for the 297,905 soldiers, policemen, firemen, jail guards, and Coast Guard personnel for the same period will cost the government P2.84 billion, it said. (Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, INQ.net)