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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Gov't urged to make salary hike '1st order of business' this year 

Gov't urged to make salary hike '1st order of business' this year 

Published Jan 8, 2023 07:36 pm

Citing the steady soar of inflation, a group of education workers urged the government to make a “significant salary hike” an utmost priority at the start of the year.

(NOEL PABALATE / MANILA BULLETIN)

Vladimer Quetua from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines said that for the past 10 months, the country’s inflation rate has “surpassed” the government’s 2022 target of two to four percent --- closing at 8.1 percent by December 2022.

“This spelled equally staggering hardships to Filipino wage and salary earners whose standards of living have plummeted due to skyrocketing prices of goods,” Quetua said.

“We are practically at the end of our rope, significant salary increase should be the government’s top agenda as the year opens,” he added.

Quetua pointed out that the last tranche of paltry salary adjustments for government workers will be implemented this year.

“The measly salary hike installments in the past four years have failed to cushion the effects of soaring inflation, much less improve our living standards,” he said.

Given this, Quetua asserted that it is necessary for President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to certify as urgent the wage and salary increase bills filed in Congress and the two chambers to start deliberating on these once sessions resume on Jan. 23, 2023.

A far cry

Quetua explained that public school teachers occupying Teacher I, II, and III positions --- who form 92 percent of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) teaching force --- will only be receiving a net take-home pay of P23,000 to P27,000 this year.

This, he lamented, is a “far cry” from the P33,000 family living wage based on government data.

“With the global and local economic crises seen to continually worsen, its effects to our family’s well-being and to our work is sure to be unbearable,” Quetua noted.

New hope

Despite this, ACT said that government can bring “new hope” to teachers and all hard-working Filipinos this new year by “boldly taking steps to hike our pay to liveable levels.”

ACT is urging the government to set a national minimum wage of P1,100 per day and expedite a new round of salary increases for government workers at P33,000 for salary grade I employees.

The government is also urged to upgrade the salary level of teachers --- from salary grade 11 to salary grade 15 for Teacher 1.

Related Tags

president ferdinand bongbong marcos jr SALARY HIKE ACT teachers Alliance of Concerned Teachers salary increase salary
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