Teachers question rejection of proposed raise after gov't doubled cops' pay
MANILA, Philippines — A nationwide alliance of teachers has expressed its dismay over the rejection of its proposed pay hike for entry-level educators in public schools, stressing that the move says a lot about the priorities of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
In a statement on Thursday, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) criticized the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for rejecting the petition of some 60,000 public school teachers to approve a 36% increase in the salary of entry-level teachers and college instructors.
ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said DBM had “the gall to point out that upgrading teachers’ salaries will result to salary distortion” when the government provided a “one-sided doubling of the salaries of uniformed personnel in 2018.”
Data from DBM shows that while the government approved a sweeping 100% pay hike for entry-level police personnel in 2018, it shot down ACT’s proposal in 2022 to increase entry-level teachers’ (Teacher 1) salary by 36%. The proposed adjustment would have bumped up teachers' monthly pay from P27,000 (Salary Grade 11) to P36,619 (SG 15).
The DBM also rejected the proposal to increase the pay for entry-level college instructors (Instructor 1) from SG 12 to SG 16, or from 29,165 to P39,672.
Marcos vowed to increase the salary of public school teachers during his presidential campaign in May 2022.
In a February 8 letter, the DBM said it could not approve the increase due to fiscal constraints – including the“high cost” of increasing teachers’ and public workers’ pay – and to ensure that public school teachers’ salaries matched that of private school teachers.
In its letter, the DBM said increasing the salary for entry-level teachers and instructors would have to include parallel increase for other education personnel "in order to maintain the hierarchy of positions" and avoid a "salary distortion."
In 2018, around 76,000 police personnel with the rank of Police Officer 1 were promised a 100-percent increase in their base pay, increasing their monthly salary from P14,834 to P29,668.
“The Marcos government is fast exposing itself and its real priorities. Like father, like son, it seeks to serve not the people, the teachers, nor its own employees, but its own vested interests, the elite and its foreign masters,” Quetua added.
Vice President Sara Duterte – concurrently Department of Education secretary – said in the first Basic Education Report that the department will “work towards addressing issues affecting the net-take-home pay of teachers.”
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