‘Proposed salary increase for teachers not enough’

Teacher organizations have expressed dismay over the latest proposal of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for a 21-percent salary increase given over three years, which is lower than the “35” cited by President Duterte in a press conference earlier this week.

“That’s just seven percent a year,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) national chairperson Jocelyn Martinez said in an interview with “The Chiefs” aired on Cignal TV’s One News on Tuesday night.

“This does not compensate what the teachers have been doing. For so long, we have been asking for a substantial salary increase. For now, P20,754 is not enough to support (our families),” Martinez added, in a mix of English and Filipino.

In the same episode of the program, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said there is available funding to increase the salary of teachers to P25,000 per month in one go.

Gatchalian noted that the President vetoed P95 billion in the proposed budget last year, which he said could be tapped for the salary increase of educators.

“My proposal is to take P54 billion out of that P95 billion vetoed budget so we can grant (the salary increase) to the teachers in lower ranks. We just want to raise (the salary of) those who make up most of the personnel of the DepEd,” he said.

Asked if it would be possible to increase the salary further to the proposed P30,000 of the teacher organizations, Gatchalian stressed the need to look for fund sources to provide the salary increase.

‘Crumbs’

In a separate statement, the ACT slammed the Duterte administration for its broken promise of a substantial salary increase for teachers.

“This government is taking teachers for a ride. After three years of guessing game with repeatedly vague promises, it was finally revealed that they only intend to give us so little. We will not take crumbs for a pay hike,” Martinez said.

“The P1,500 monthly increase is like having no pay hike at all. It will do nothing to improve the dire conditions of our teachers as it will be quickly negated by income tax and inflation,” she added.

Teachers’ Dignity Coalition chairman Benjo Basas said the 21-percent increase is not what the teachers are asking for, noting Duterte’s previous pronouncements of support for P10,000 acrossthe-board hike or even doubling salaries of teachers.