Lawmakers renew calls for salary increase for teachers, government employees

MANILA, Philippines – Several lawmakers are urging again the government to increase the pay of teachers and all state employees.

ACT Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro pointed out that since the Duterte administration failed to address the rising inflation rate then it's due time for a pay hike. With the inflation rate steady at 6.7% in October, the opposition lawmakers said that teachers are struggling to make ends meet.
Lawmakers renew calls for salary increase for teachers, government employees

Tinio said, “Teachers and rank-and-file state workers are no exceptions. They are struggling to put food on their tables as the higher cost of living continues to hit them.”

The lawmakers also added that the recent implementation of fare hikes for public transportation have made things worse. Tinio continued, “Thus, we support their resounding call for the immediate grant of substantial salary increases now, not in 2020.”

Castro called out President Duterte for not making true to his promise to improve the lives of Filipinos. He said Duterte “failed to deliver his campaign promises to uplift the Filipino people’s lives and livelihood and instead succeeded to increase the people’s burden with the skyrocketing of prices since the implementation of TRAIN Law.”

The Makabayan bloc leaders urged the Congress to prioritize the passing of the House Bills 7211 and 7917 that will increase the entry-level salary of public school teachers to P30,000 and Salary Grade 1 employees to P16,000.

Castro also asked fellow lawmakers to look into House Bill 7653, which seeks to repeal the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

The ACT Teachers representative earlier slammed the “measly” wage hike of P25 granted to NCR workers. They called it “insufficient” with the rising prices of commodities and services.

Last October, Education secretary Leonor Briones made an announcement that they couldn't afford a salary for the 6,500 public school teachers in the country.

She cited that a wage hike would mean additional taxes for the public. Briones said, “While we think of the personal needs of our teachers, we have to also to think of the rest of the economy. We also have to think of the rest of Filipinos and we have to prosper together.”

— Sally, The Summit Express



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