Gov’t earmarks P35 B for new teachers, cops, firefighters

The Duterte administration will allocate some P35 billion to pay for the salaries of 100,000 new personnel in 2018, the bulk of whom are frontline workers such as teachers, police and firemen.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto yesterday said his count, based on the proposed P3.7-trillion national budget for 2018, refers to new positions created, and does not include recruitment to replace separated, resigned, dismissed or deceased personnel.

Recto said topping the list of agencies that would go on a recruitment spree is the Department of Education, which will open up 81,100 teaching slots beginning January next year.

These are for 43,732 kindergarten and elementary; 1,944 special education teachers, 35,192 junior high school, and 232 senior high school teachers.

The second biggest recruiter will be the Philippine National Police, under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which will be authorized to create 10,000 entry-level Police Officer 1 positions.

Once hired, they will raise PNP’s uniformed personnel strength to 194,410, resulting in a 1:511 policeman to population ratio, Recto said.

Also included in the proposed national budget are funds to hire 1,000 Jail Officers 1 to allow the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to cope with a projected 76,276 spike in inmate population next year.

Another DILG agency, the Bureau of Fire Protection will also be authorized to sign up 2,000 Fire Officers 1, which Recto pointed out hardly make a dent on its need for about 25,000 additional firemen.

He said the hiring of policemen and teachers is “linked to population growth.”

“There is a cop-to-citizen ratio that must be maintained. And 40 more students enrolled in public schools would require the hiring of one teacher. Forty is the number of babies born every 10 minutes in this country,” he added.

With the addition of kindergarten and two more grades in the basic education curriculum, DepEd needs more teachers.

The senator said even if all the 2018 new slots would be hired, the DepEd would need 87,432 more teachers.

For 2018, DepEd is set to receive P16.7 billion to fill vacant positions and P28.17 billion for new positions to be created.

He said bureaucracy-wide, some P34.9 billion is allotted for the pay of new civil service entrants.

Recto said although other agencies will not create job items, they will be hiring to fill existing but vacant positions.

Those involved in infrastructure, like the Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will have no choice but to boost their technical staff to end talent shortage and project delays, he said.

He said the DPWH has 1,777 vacancies in its approved plantilla of 19,501 personnel while the Department of Transportation’s mother agency, the defunct Department of Transportation and Communications, had 1,297 reported vacancies last year.

The judiciary, Recto said, is also grappling with lack of judges and support personnel to dispose of heavy caseloads.

The Supreme Court and lower courts have total plantilla positions of 37,230 but only filled 25,154 leaving 12,076 vacancies.