Budget Secretary Kim Robert De Leon is moving to eliminate one of the most persistent sources of delay in government salary processing, saying agencies will no longer need to formally request salary deficiency funding from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) once they update their plantilla master list, with the new automatic release system targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.
President Marcos’ Budget chief made the announcement in an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on September 5, as part of the DZRH SONA 2026 Series featuring the DBM.
De Leon said the current process requires agencies to submit a formal request to DBM’s regional office identifying who was promoted and to what level before the corresponding salary funding can be released, a process that creates bottlenecks and delays that often leave promoted employees waiting months for pay they have already earned.
“Yung DepEd, for instance, kailangan nilang ipadala yung information. Sino yung na-promote? Anong level sila na-promote? Para makuwenta yung kailangan na additional na funding. So ipapadala nila ‘yan sa aming regional office, at yung regional office ng DBM ida-download naman sa DepEd yung kakulangang pondo para dun sa promotion,” he said.
De Leon said the planned reform will replace this request-based system with an automatic one driven by the agency’s own plantilla data.
“Hindi na kailangan pang i-request. Kailangan lang i-update ng ahensya yung master list na tinatawag namin ng kanilang plantilla, at ‘pag nakita namin na may kulang, kahit walang request, kailangan i-download namin sa kanila yung kakulangan nung pambayad ng pondo,” the President’s Budget chief said.
He said the policy is currently being drafted and a formal circular is expected to be signed before the end of September, with a live test during the fourth quarter of 2026 covering not just DepEd but all agencies that typically submit salary deficiency requests at the end of the year.
“Hopefully bago matapos ‘tong buwan. Dahil ini-expect namin, ang target namin ngayong 4th quarter, hindi lang DepEd, maraming ahensya yung magre-request sa amin ng tinatawag na PS deficiency o yung kakulangan sa pangsweldo. So sabi ko nga, ngayong fourth quarter, i-testing natin. I-update lamang nila yung master list, hindi na kailangang i-request, at pwede nating i-release sa kanila automatically,” he added.
De Leon said the reform directly addresses the Marcos administration’s directive that any benefit owed to a government employee must not be delayed, and that the DBM must proactively ensure salary completeness rather than waiting for agencies to come knocking.
