The annual clothing allowance of 1.12 million civilian national government employees will increase to P6,000 next year, from the current P5,000, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today.

The P1,000 hike for the purchase of what Recto describes as the “civil servant’s OOTD” or official outfit of the day, will cost P1.12 billion a year.

The increase will raise the total budget for clothing allowance to P6.71 billion, the amount indicated in the proposed 2018 national budget.

That amount, however, is for civilian employees only and does not cover clothing supplied to soldiers, policemen, firemen and other uniformed personnel.

The annual clothing allowance of a policeman, fireman and jail guard, whose agencies are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Interior and Local Government, is about P14,000, Recto said.

The combined uniform budget of the DILG and the Department of National Defense—the latter for Army, Navy, Air Force servicemen—will reach P3.38 billion next year.

Overall, government will shell out P10.09 billion for the uniform and clothing expenses of its civilian and uniformed personnel next year.

“’Yung P10 billion, hindi pa kasama ang clothing allowance ng mga empleyado ng local governments and government corporations,” Recto explained.

“Sa official apparel pa lamang ng national government employees, ang gagastahin ay three times the annual budget of the Department of Tourism,” Recto said.

Under present rules, clothing allowances in an agency are pooled and the uniforms bought in bulk, but in some cases, allowances are given directly to employees.