As the country observes the celebration of National Teachers’ Month (NTM), a group reminded President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. of his “promise” to raise the salary of teachers.
“The Marcos administration seems to be backing down early in his promise to raise teachers salaries, but we will not forget his electoral promise,” said Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines Chairperson Vladimer Quetua in a statement issued Wednesday, Sept. 7.
To amplify their call for a pay hike, teachers from various public schools nationwide continue to upload selfies and groufies on social media as the NTM officially started on Sept. 5.
“While our teachers are swamped with school work, they make it a point to get their message across from their work stations,” Quetua said.
“Our call for salary upgrading to alleviate teachers of their economic hardships and correct the distortion in the government pay scheme is urgent and justified,” he added.
To reiterate their demand for salary upgrading, ACT has lined up various activities during the NTM celebration.
ACT pointed out that inflation rates for three straight months have surpassed six percent. The P25,439 entry-level pay of public school teachers, the group added, is “simply not enough” to make ends meet with soaring prices of family needs, and school and teaching expenses.
Quetua added that the salary adjustments given by the previous administration are pointless because of income tax at mandatory contributions for the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Philhealth.
“It is clear that the current government scheme is very problematic,” Quetua said. He also asked where is “justice” in the situation where Teacher I only gets P25,439 per month while Philippine National Police (PNP) Patrolman gets P29,668 and Nurse I receives P35,097.
“We demand that this distortion be rectified immediately and the salary grade of Teacher I be adjusted to SG 15 from the current SG 11, like the nurses, before the implementation of Salary Standardization Law V ends next year and a new round of salary adjustments is discussed,” he explained.
Given this, ACT urged Marcos not to “forget his promise” after winning the elections.
“Huwag sanang ginagamit lang kapakanan ng mga guro para makakuha ng boto at pagkatapos ay tatalikuran na kapag naka-upo na sa pwesto (Don't just use the interests of teachers to get votes and then turn your back on them once they are in office),” Quetua said.
“Huwag sanang paglaruan ang aming damdamin dahil tunay ang aming hirap at dusa (Don't play with our feelings because our hardships and suffering are real),” he added.
The group also stressed that if the government is serious about addressing the learning crisis, it should give teachers the ability to face this big challenge by upgrading their salaries.
When he was still a presidential candidate in March, Marcos said in a statement that he will increase the salaries of public school teachers, among others, when he wins the presidency in the May 2022 elections.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/18/marcos-bent-on-uplifting-quality-of-life-of-teachers/