ILOILO – As classes resumed, members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) at Pavia National High School in Pavia, Iloilo pressed for an increase in the salary of government teachers.
Sixteen teachers and staff of the school joined yesterday’s nationwide ACT call for the approval of House Bill 7211 that sought the following standard salaries in the government education sector:
* P16,000 – Salary Grade 1 (non-teaching personnel)
* P30,000 – Teacher 1
* P31,000 – Instructor 1
House Bill 7211 was filed by ACT Teachers party-list House representatives France Castro and Antonio Tinio.
During the 2016 election campaign, then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte promised to increase the salaries of government employees, said Maximo Montero, Grade 10 teacher of Pavia National High School and vice president of ACT in Region 6.
Now into his third year in office, however, the President managed to raise the salaries only of policemen and soldiers, lamented Montero.
Also the president of the Teachers and Employees Association of Pavia National High School, Montero and companions held a “silent rally” in front of the Pavia National High School’s Learning Resource Center. They brought placards.
A salary increase is needed for government teachers to attain a “decent and humane condition of living,” said Montero, citing the rising prices of basic goods due to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.
“The prices of commodities are surging fast but not the salaries of government workers, most especially teachers and specifically the Teacher 1s,” said Montero.
In Manila, ACT’s Cong. Tinio urged President Rodrigo Duterte to include in the proposed 2019 national budget the funds for the pay hike for public school teachers and all rank-and-file civilian government employees.
“The President knows how teachers resort to incurring loans just to make ends meet,” said Tinio. “It’s high time to go beyond promises and to actually walk the talk by issuing marching orders to Department of Budget and Management (DBM) secretary Benjamin Diokno to include funds for government pay hike in the administration’s proposal for the 2019 budget.”
In a speech in Davao City last month, Duterte vowed to increase the salary of public school teachers, but said it cannot be doubled as they would have wanted since there are not much resources for it.
“Ang inyo, kayo ang isunod ko pero hindi naman masyado doblado. Hindi talaga kaya. I’m not blaming anybody but simply there are too many Filipinos. Ang resources natin wala,” he said.
ACT’s Cong. Castro said Duterte should have a clear amount and timeline as to when the pay hike for public school teachers and employees will be given, and this timeline “should not start later than the 2019 budget deliberations.”/PN
