House panel lowers retirement age for teachers

The House Committee on Civil Service and Professional Regulation has passed a measure seeking to lower the compulsory and optional retirement ages of public school teachers.

The panel, chaired by Leyte Rep. Andres D. Salvacion Jr. decided to approve House Bill 4501, authored by 1-BAP party- list Rep. Silvestre H. Bello III.

HB 4501 seeks to lower the compulsory retirement age of public school teachers from 65 to 60 years old, and optional retirement age from 60 to 55 years old.

“This will allow our government mentors enjoy the remaining years of their lives or explore other pursuits,” Salvacion’s panel said in approving the bill.

Bello’s measure seeks to amend Republic Act 8291, otherwise known as the “Revised Government Service Insurance Act of 1997”, which sets the mandatory and optional retirement ages for government employees except for those in the military and police services.

“Unless the service is extended by appropriate authorities, retirement shall be compulsory for a public school teacher at 60 years of age. Provided that if he has less than 15 years of service, he shall be allowed to continue in the service in accordance with existing civil service rules and regulations,” the bill said.

The measure also provides that a member who retires from the service shall be entitled to benefits, provided that “he is at least 55 years of age at the time of retirement for optional retirement.”

Bello noted that 15 percent or about 62,000 elementary school teachers in the Philippines are over 60 years old.

He said by lowering the compulsory and optional retirement ages of public school teachers, about 14,000 newly licensed teachers every year who pass the Licensure Examinations for Teachers (LET) would be given the chance to be employed.