THE SENATE’S move to double the funds for pay hike of government employees for 2020 is most welcome albeit still a far cry from the demands of teachers and other government employees for a substantial salary increase.
As the Senate approved the P4.1 trillion national budget for 2020 recently, it added P32 billion to the P31.1 billion initial allocation for salary increase of public sector worker. This is good news. Teachers and other government employees have long been calling for decent salaries yet government is so quick to dismiss their calls and even revoke their earlier promise of double salaries into “di masyadong malaki.”
This initial victory is a step forward in the struggle for a substantial salary increase. Teachers and other government workers should make sure this budget will be retained in the bicameral committee until the submission to the President. Their campaign for a substantial salary increase must continue until they can withdraw the victories of their campaigns.
The move of the Senate to fund the increase in salaries of entry-level pay of public nurses to P30,000 per Supreme Court decision is also most welcome. We hope that the Lower House would also allot similar entry-level pay for public school teachers since their professions have relatively similar qualifications and workload.
According to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, the P63 billion budget for pay hike could yield a monthly salary increase of less than P3,000 if divided equally among the more than 1.5 million government workers. However, it is still a far cry from their demand of increasing the current P20,754 monthly salary of Teacher I to P30,000.
Salary increases for our frontliners in the delivery of basic education and health services – teachers and nurses – are certainly better proceeds for taxpayers’ money than pork and militarist programs for sowing state terrorism and stifling dissent.
We urge the House and Senate leadership to prioritize passing House Bill 219 and its counterparts on increasing the salaries of teachers and other government employees. Public school teachers and other government employees are tired of hearing empty promises. They demand concrete steps.
