Salary Act for Government Nurses

Section 2 covers nurses in the National Government service and the local and provincial government service, with salary rates depending on the availability of funds.
Section 2 classifies nurses by position and sets minimum and maximum rates of annual salaries for each classified position.
Section 3 applies to nurses employed in institutions or hospitals who work not exceeding forty-eight hours a week.
Section 3 also applies to government nurses assigned to Public Health Nursing for an additional monthly compensation.

Section 2 sets the following salary ranges (annual salary minimum–maximum) depending on funds available:
- Chief Nurse and Superintendent of Nursing School or Chief Nurse, P.H.N. Section: P3,300.00–3,720.00
- Chief Nurse or Principal or Assistant Chief Nurse, P.H.N: P2,940.00–3,300.00
- Assistant Chief Nurse, Assistant Principal, Dietician, Operating Room Supervisor and Nurse Supervisors in P.H.N. Section: P2,580.00–2,940.00
- Ward Supervisors, Nurse Instructors and Nurse Supervisors in P.H.N.: P2,280.00–2,580.00
- Head Nurse or Chief Nurse of hospitals of 40 beds or less: P2,040.00–2,280.00
- General Duty Nurse or Staff Nurse in Institutional or Public Health Nursing: P1,680.00–2,040.00
Section 2 directs that these rates are set “any provision of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding.”

Section 3 requires the Secretary of Health or the heads of other departments of the Government which employ nurses to provide quarters and subsistence free of charge to covered nurses.
Section 3 limits covered work time to not exceeding forty-eight hours a week.
Section 3 entitles government nurses assigned to Public Health Nursing to an additional compensation of fifty pesos to sixty pesos a month in lieu of quarters, subsistence, and laundry allowance.

Section 4 requires giving a nurse with professional qualifications higher than the standards required for the position a higher rate of entrance salary than a nurse who merely meets the standards.
Section 4 makes the higher entrance salary entitlement conditional on two requirements:
- the nurse has passed the Board Examination for Nurses, and
- the nurse possesses the necessary civil service eligibility.

Section 5 provides that the scale of salaries under Section 2 becomes effective only after certification.
Section 5 requires the Secretary of Finance and the Auditor General to certify to the President that available funds in the National Treasury exceed the amounts appropriated in the general appropriations law.
Section 5 requires that the excess funds are sufficient to cover the increase in salaries authorized by the Act.

Section 2 overrides conflicting provisions by stating that existing law provisions to the contrary do not apply.
Section 3 places the duty to provide free quarters and subsistence on the Secretary of Health and on department heads that employ nurses.
Section 5 assigns the salary-effective certification process to the Secretary of Finance and the Auditor General, communicated to the President.