The incoming administration of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. should heed the appeal of teachers for a salary increase, which has been lowest among Asian countries.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the salary increase is already overdue and ought to be a priority of the Marcos administration.

“We took a look at the salary averages of teachers in ASEAN and we're one of the lowest. In fact, we are third to the lowest in terms of salaries being given to our teachers,” Gatchalian said in an recent interview on CNN Philippines.

“The highest is Indonesia, their entry level there's almost P60,000—higher than Singapore—and Indonesia gives a lot of premium to their teachers,” he said.

Gatchalian, who currently heads the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, said he has filed a bill to improve the entry level salary of public school teachers from Salary Grade 11 (P25,439) to Salary Grade 14 (P32,321).

At the same time, he said he also filed a bill to add a few more teacher levels so there would be space for promotions.

“I do agree that we should increase teacher salaries, so we can deter from being third to the last in the ASEAN. So we can at least enter the median level in the ASEAN,” the senator stressed.

Gatchalian has repeatedly emphasized the need to boost the morale of the country’s teachers, who have been at the forefront of the education sector especially during the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.