President Arroyo signed Thursday an executive order granting a 10-percent salary increase for government workers effective July.Mrs. Arroyo made the announcement after attending a wage board meeting in San Fernando, Pampanga. Earlier, the President attended another wage board meeting in Quezon City.
The President has ordered Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya to thresh out the details of the increase.
The long-planned 10-percent increase in the basic pay is part of the multiyear schedule for the staggered increase in public-sector wages, a policy that was forged in 2006.
A 10-percent increase in the basic pay of 898,849 national government employees will cost P9.216 billion for six months, and P2.844 billion for an estimated 277,905 soldiers, policemen, firemen, jail guards and Coast Guard personnel for the same period. The pay increase is the third in 30 months in the public sector.
