TABUK CITY, Kalinga – City government employees have one good reason to smile this month as they start receiving a bigger pay check when pay day arrives.
Some 700 regular employees of the city government of Tabuk got the second tranche of their salary increase in February.
The salary adjustment saw a P1,200 increase for employees with salary grade 10 to 22; P1,400 for those who have salary grade 23 and above, while a P900 pay hike is reflected for those employees with salary grade nine or lower.
The second tranche of the salary increase was included in the allocation for personnel services in the city’s 2021 annual budget, the City Budget Office said.
“The notice of salary adjustment was released in February so employees will receive a salary differential for the month of January,” the City Budget Office said in a statement.
The increase in compensation for Tabuk’s employees as well as state workers is mandated by the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 5. Moreover, the immediate implementation is for the welfare of the city’s employees, said mayor Darwin Estrañero.
“[We wanted to implement this right away] so that our employees will have additional (funds) for their expenses,” said Estranero.
“Nu haan tayo nga ingatu dayta, isu pay a diay increases nga duwwa nga mainayun diay sweldo da nga mausar ti pamilya (We have to make the increase, so that our employees will have something to use for their family),” he added.
City Hall employees received the first tranche of salary increase in October last year after the passage of the supplemental budget passed for the third quarter. The implementation of the first tranche was retroactive and each employees received a lump sum of their salary differential for January to October.
The salary adjustment for state workers is to be implemented in four tranches from 2020 until 2023, the SSL mandated.
Meanwhile, non-regular employees of the city government will also get pay hike this year.
Beginning January, job order employees will get a P20 daily pay hike from P330 to P350, while casual workers saw their pay increase to P437 from P400 last year.
The wage hike for job order and casual employees is also included in the city’s 2021 annual budget.
