SORSOGON CITY – At least 139 nurses deployed to nine public hospitals run by the provincial government here will get an increase in their salary starting this month.
Senatorial aspirant and Sorsogon Governor Francis “Chiz” Escudero announced that the provincial government of Sorsogon has started implementing a budget circular that would increase the salaries of nurses working in public hospitals, as part of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 5.
He clarified that these 139 nurses are the first recipients of this new round of salary adjustment, in accordance with Republic Act 11466, or the Act Modifying the Salary Schedule for Civilian Government Personnel and Authorizing the Grant of Additional Benefits and for Other Purposes, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in January 2020.
“Paunang makakatanggap ng dagdag na sahod ang ating mga nurses mula sa mga pampublikong ospital dito sa lalawigan. Malaking tulong ito lalo na sa panahong ito at higit kailan ay kailangan nila ang dagdag na sweldo dahil bugbog din naman sila sa dami ng trabaho at pag-aaruga sa mga Sorsoganon gawa ng pandemya,” Escudero said.
Escudero narrated that the province has one provincial hospital, four district hospitals and four medicare hospitals, which are all ISO-certified.
He added that while the pay hike of these nurses employed in public hospitals is being readied, the Human Resources Department (HRD) of the provincial government is only awaiting the guidelines from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the implementation of the third tranche of the salary increases covering employees holding permanent items.
As of December 2021, the provincial government of Sorsogon has at least 1,004 “plantilla” personnel assigned in different departments, according to the HRD.
Escudero narrated that under the law, some 1.4 million civil servants in government approved listing of positions in any governmental institution nationwide are expected to benefit from this fresh round of pay hike.
He noted that the national government will spend a total of P130.5 billion for the salary adjustments until 2023.