ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Villafuerte hopes this pro-teacher bill would also move forward in Congress

Villafuerte hopes this pro-teacher bill would also move forward in Congress

Published Dec 28, 2023 09:54 am

At A Glance

  • Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is pushing for the passage of a measure that he believes would complement the proposed law increasing public school teachers' teaching supplies. 

RAW_25042023_Classroom Electric Fan_05_deVela (1).jpg(MANILA BULLETIN)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is pushing for the passage of a measure that he believes would complement the proposed law increasing public school teachers' teaching supplies. 

Villafuerte and fellow Bicol-based congressmen filed in July 2022 House Bill (HB) No.1851, or An Act upgrading the minimum salary grade level of teachers from Salary Grade 11 to 19. 

The measure hasn't seen much progress and remains pending before the House Committee on Appropriations. 

The same can't be said of the proposed Teaching Supplies Allowance Act, which seeks to raise the supplies allowance of public elementary and secondary teachers from the current P5,000 to P10,000.  

Embodied in HB No.9682, the measure was approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives earlier this month. The Senate--the other legislative chamber in the bicameral Philippine Congress--approved its counterpart measure last May 2023. 

This means that the Teaching Supplies Allowance Act is one a few steps away from becoming an actual law. 

Villafuerte believes that HB No.1851 serves as a complementary measure to HB No.9682, and at the same time supports President Marcos’ commitment to deliver on his 2023 campaign promise for an additional salary hike for teachers. 

HB No.1851 notes that the low salary rates of around 800,000 public school teachers have “caused disincentivization to improve their skills and pursue further education and training". 

"This situation also makes the teaching profession unattractive to the youth,especially to the cream of the crop graduates from top colleges and universities in the country. Moreover, labor groups and teacher associations have been lobbying for years to increase teachers’ compensation by upgrading their salary grade," the bill said. 

HB No.1851 proposes a significant increase in the salary grade level of public elementary and high school teachers from Grade 11 to Grade 19 amid the continuous rise in the cost of living. 

Villafuerte and his three fellow authors pointed to the constitutional duty of the State to “enable conducive working conditions for our teachers and ensure that the teaching profession will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents in the country through adequate remuneration". 

The bill mandates the national government to appropriate such an amount, as may be necessary to carry out the proposed pay hike. 

It added that this salary increase shall “take priority over other non-educational and non-agricultural budgetary allocations". 

It requires the Department of Education (DepEd) to come up with a specific programmed budget needed to cover the expenses for the upgrading in salary levels of all the corresponding teacher plantilla positions for a period of at least five (5) years “to allow the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to make the necessary budgetary adjustments to facilitate the smooth implementation of this Act".

 

Related Tags

public school teachers lray villafuerte
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.