📷: Alliance of Health Workers / FB
Government employees across agencies, under the All GE Unity, are intensifying their call for the immediate increase of the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) to P5,000, with workers holding lunch-break protests and workplace and school-based actions to press the government to provide meaningful economic relief.
PERA has remained at P2,000 since 2009, when it was introduced to supplement the salaries of government personnel and provide economic relief amid rising living costs. More than 17 years later, the cost of basic goods, transportation, fuel, utilities, and other necessities has risen substantially, leaving the current allowance increasingly disconnected from the conditions it was intended to address.
“Seventeen years have passed since PERA was last increased. The prices of basic necessities have continued to rise, yet the allowance meant to provide economic relief to government workers has remained at P2,000. This amount can no longer provide the relief that workers need,” ACT Chairperson Ruby Bernardo stated.
Under the proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program, government employees slammed the meager P500 increase in PERA, which falls far short of the long-standing demand of public sector workers to raise the allowance to at least P5,000.
“An additional P500 will hardly make a difference in the daily lives of government workers. We are asking for P3,000 more because the present P2,000 allowance has long ceased to keep pace with the cost of living. Workers need substantial relief and we need it now,” Bernardo emphasized.
The groups, composed of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition, and Advancement of Government Employees, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Alliance of Health Workers, Filipino Nurses United, and Kawani Laban sa Kontraktwalisasyon, also rejected claims that the government cannot afford the additional P3,000 per month being demanded by government employees.
“Every day, government workers report for duty and deliver essential public services despite rising expenses and financial pressures at home. It is an injustice to tell them that there is no money for a meaningful increase in PERA while public funds continue to be lost to corruption and waste,” Bonifacio Carmona Jr., Alliance of Health Workers National President stated.
The government has proposed a P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027, six percent higher than the 2026 budget. The Department of Budget and Management has said that the proposed budget prioritizes, among others, existing government commitments and the fourth tranche of salary adjustments for civilian government personnel.
The groups called on all government employees to unite and intensify the campaign for a substantial increase in PERA. They urged workers to take part in lunch-break protests, selfie protests, and school- and workplace-based actions, and to bring the demand for P5,000 PERA to every government office and workplace.
“The government has had 17 years to act. It is time to stop telling workers that there is no money for relief while public funds are squandered through corruption and waste. Congress and Malacañang must increase PERA to P5,000 in the 2027 budget. Government workers will continue to raise this demand and organize collective actions until it is granted,” Santiago Dasmariñas, COURAGE President declared. #
