ANGARA CALLS FOR AMENDMENT OF COMPENSATION SCHEME FOR GOVERNMENT WORKERS

"We must develop, implement, and maintain a rational government compensation and benefits system which shall be internally and externally equitable, performance-based, and easy to administer."

This is what Senator Edgardo J. Angara said as he pushes for the enactment of a bill adopting an omnibus job classification and compensation system in the civil service seeking to address the distortions and inequities under the current system.

He lamented that the current salary structure has been characterized by internal distortions and external inequities, caused largely by a system that allows for salary step increments based on longevity rather than performance.

"Employees of higher rank receive salaries lower than that of subordinates who have been in the service for a longer time. It discourages performers from seeking promotion to higher positions as the salary may not be commensurate to the increase in responsibilities."

The bill, he said, focuses on areas in the civil service that need key reforms, relating to civil service size and quality.

These areas include developing and implementing of a strategy for adjusting civil service employment to the appropriate role, functions and structure of the State in concert with the budget reforms; increasing the transparency and competitiveness of civil service compensation while at the same time decompressing salary levels for key civil service grades; and improving professionalism and meritocracy.

The omnibus system, as proposed, provides for 22 job grades as compared to the current 33 salary grades in the government service.

Angara stressed that verifiable compensable factors such as skills and knowledge, nature of the work and answerability shall be used to determine the job grade.

Aside from the base pay of government employees, "all other forms of pay shall be standardized and rationalized, in order to uphold the constitutional mandate requiring standardization of compensation. In any case, performance will continue to be recognized and rewarded through incentives," he said.

"Legislative measures aimed at augmenting the pays of certain positions in government have also been initiated to bridge the gap between compensation levels of the government and several government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) but failed to solve the greater flaws inherent in the current system. It is these problems that the proposed bill seeks to address," he pointed out.

He said that many professionals have transferred to the private sector because of the huge gap in the salaries of employees in the government and the private sector. "For these people to remain in government, we have to compete with the market forces by providing them with standardized and rationalized compensation scheme."