SILANG, Cavite (26 October) -- Citing the need to improve the lives of all state workers, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced today a government plan to increase the pay of government employees starting next year up to 2010.

In her speech at the ongoing 1st National Summit of the Bagong Usbong ng Lingkod Bayan (BULB) at the Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP) in Silang, Cavite, the President said the government has allotted a total of P172 billion in salary increases for the next four years.

She said that based on the estimate of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the government will spend P10 billion in 2007, P32 billion in 2008, P55 billion in 2009, and P75 billion in 2010 for the salary increases of the government workforce

And to be able to meet the pay hike dreams of state workers, the President urged all government revenue offices, like the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), to continue their good revenue collections.

She also asked all agencies to be more prudent in spending government funds so that the pay hikes of some one million state workers can be accommodated.

"Hangad ko talaga na hindi lamang ang ating moral generation sa pamamagitan ng mga programang gaya ng BULB ang gaganda kundi pati na rin ang buhay ng karaniwang manggagawa sa ating pamahalaan (It is my wish that it will not only moral generation that would be uplifted by programs like BULB but also the lives of our state workers)," the President said.

In another front, the President stressed that the government remains focused in its campaign against smuggling.

"We are determined to strike down the problem of smuggling as we have made it clear to the Bureau of Customs that there should be no sacred cow in this all-out effort, to ensure that a just and equitable market be preserved," she stressed.

The President assured the public that the government would make sure that all fronts of productivity and fair competition are protected and strengthened.