 |
| Image by hronlineph.com |
Following several pronouncements that the salaries of uniformed men will be doubled under the Duterte administration, a group of teachers on Thursday expressed hope that their proposed P10,000-pay increase will likewise be granted.
The 30,000-strong Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), reiterated their proposal for a P10,000 across-the-board salary for public school teachers and urged President Duterte to grant their request.
READ ALSO:
READ ALSO:
“We are anticipating an announcement from the palace that it is now ready to grant the P10,000 across-the-board increase for the salaries of public school teachers,” said TDC National Chairperson Benjo Basas.
Basas noted that the teachers are happy for the police and military personnel because “they are almost assured of the enhancement on their pay.”
He also recognized that “the uniformed personnel will be at the center of the administration’s foremost concern – crime prevention and the path to peace… thus, it is understood that the President would prioritize them.”
Public school teachers, however, continue to push for a P10,000 additional compensation for teachers and education personnel above the Salary Standardization Law (SSL).
The proposal, Basas said, is based on the original bill filed by Sen. Alan Cayetano during the 14th Congress in 2008.
Basas noted that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, instead of considering Cayetano’s proposal, preferred the amendment to SSL which granted the entry-level position of teachers an increase of P6,523 over a period of four years from 2009 to 2012.
While TDC acknowledged the pay increase, Basas noted that they “want something that is founded on historical, moral and legal bases.”
He noted that “what Arroyo did was just a perpetuation of the flawed salary scheme for government personnel committed by Congress when it enacted the SSL in 1989.”
Then, Basas lamented that the succeeding administration of former President Aquino “did not end the suffering of teachers” and just waited for the law to lapse in 2012. “Worse, the Aquino administration never considered raising the salaries of teachers and government employees until its last months in office when it pursued the SSL 2015 which further amended the existing SSL,” he added.
SOURCE: MANILA BULLETIN