Entry-level nurses at national government hospitals are now assured of annual salary increases that will total more than 20 percent by 2027, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo (District 4), a member of the House committee on appropriations, said on Sunday.

Rillo said that the basic pay of entry-level nurses at Department of Health (DOH) hospitals will steadily increase by an average of 4.8 percent each year until it reaches P44,148 per month by January 1, 2027.

The increases are a direct result of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Executive Order No. 64, which updated the salaries of civilian government personnel, according to Rillo.

“Right now, entry-level nurses at DOH hospitals are already being paid P38,413 monthly, which is 4.9 percent higher than the P36,619 that they received in 2023,” Rillo said.

“The P38,413 will further increase to P40,208 effective January 1, 2025; to P42,178 effective January 1, 2026; and to P44,148 effective January 1, 2027,” Rillo added.

“The adjustments translate to a cumulative 20.5 percent pay raise over four years,” he noted.

Rillo made the statement ahead of the national observance of Nurses’ Week.

The country marks the last week of October of every year as Nurses’ Week to promote public awareness of the importance of the nursing profession to public health.

Rillo has championed the welfare of nurses in Congress.

He is the author of House Bill No. 5276, which seeks to raise the pay of entry-level nurses at DOH hospitals to Salary Grade 21, or P67,005 per month, in a bid to discourage them from seeking overseas employment.

Owing to low pay, the Philippines has been losing thousands of nurses who leave the country every year to work in the United States and other foreign labor markets.

The World Health Organization estimates that the Philippines is currently facing a shortage of 127,000 nurses—a number that is expected to grow to 250,000 by 2030.