Gov’t urged to give extra holiday bonus to more public school teachers

The government should extend the P10,000 additional holiday bonus it plans to give to its employees next week to locally funded and volunteer kindergarten teachers, their representative at the House of Representatives said Monday.

 

ACT Teachers’ party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said the 49,000 contractual teachers employed by local government units (LGUs) nationwide, as well as the 30,000 volunteer kindergarten, should also get the P10,000 performance enhancement incentive (PEI) approved by Malacañang last week.

 

“These teachers deserve the same bonus at their nationally paid counterparts,” Tinio said in a statement.

 

He added that granting the additional holiday bonus to these teachers, whom he described as “among the most exploited in the profession” is a way “to ameliorate their plight.”

 

President Benigno Aquino III announced last Thursday that he has already approved the release of P11.68 million for the additional holiday bonus of over a million government employees in the country.

 

Tinio also called on Malacañang to fully shoulder the cost of providing the PEI for the locally funded and kindergarten teachers.

 

“This is one way in which the national government can acknowledge some responsibility for the welfare of locally funded teachers. After all, they are indispensable in the delivery of education, which the national government is mandated to provide,” he said. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News