TO encourage physicians to serve in public hospitals and institutions, a lawmaker has filed a measure seeking to raise the salary grade of government doctors from the present Grade 16, or P26,878, to Grade 27, or P62,670 a month.
House Bill (HB) 5263, filed by Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Scott Davies S. Lanete of Masbate, also seeks to provide physicians with at least a P2,500 monthly allowance on top of other existing allowances.
HB 5263, now pending at the Committee on Appropriations chaired by Liberal Party Rep. Isidro T. Ungab of Davao City, provides that the minimum base pay of government physicians shall not be lower than Salary Grade 27 as prescribed under Republic Act 6758, otherwise known as The Compensation and Classification Act of 1989. Based on House Joint Resolution 4 that provides for the salary standardization rates of government employees, which was passed by Congress and approved by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on June 17, 2009, Salary Grade 16 has a monthly compensation of P26,878, while Salary Grade 27 has P62,670.
Moreover, HB 5263 further provides that, in addition to the higher base pay, government physicians shall receive at least P2,500 every month as allowance on top of the existing allowances being given to government employees.
The bill provides that it shall apply to all government physicians referred to as Doctors of Medicine, as duly certified by the Professional Regulatory Commission, who are in the active practice of medicine, employed by the national government or a local government, either in public health institutions or in any government agency or instrumentality.
Last, the amount necessary to implement the increase for the first five years shall be sourced out from the gross annual revenues of the Government Service Insurance System and, thereafter in a special fund to be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
At the Senate, a counterpart measure, Senate Bill 319, had been filed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, which seeks to adjust the minimum base pay of physicians working in government to not lower than Salary Grade 27, or P62,670. He said the bill seeks to discourage the steady exodus of Filipino physicians overseas to seek high-paying jobs.