DBM not keen on doubling public school teachers’ salaries

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is not keen on increasing the salaries of public school teachers as the move would require an additional cost of P500 billion on the part of government.

“Unfortunately, that requires a huge amount because there are 600,000 teachers, and I would think that salaries alone of teachers would be about half-a-trillion pesos ... Doubling the salaries of teachers would need half-a-trillion pesos," Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno told reporters during a breakfast forum on Wednesday.

“I think that is not our priority at this time. Our priorities are Build, Build, Build and social protection, taking care of the poor,” Diokno noted.

The Budget chief issued the statement when asked to clarify Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s announcement that President Rodrigo Duterte asked the DBM to find ways to double the entry salary of teachers.

Diokno is writing the President a letter to address concerns about the proposed salary adjustment.

“It should be studied carefully. We don’t want a budget that is purely for salaries. I don’t think Filipinos taxpayers would like that,” he said.

“What I plan to do is to have a study done by a third party to compare salaries of equivalent positions,” Diokno noted.

He claimed that the salaries of public school teachers are twice than private school teachers.

Considerations on adjusting the salaries of government workers, particularly public school teachers, should be addressed after the fourth tranche of the salary standardization program has been completed in 2020, he said.

“There’s about 15 to 16 percent increase in salaries this year and another in 2019 and 2020,” Diokno said.

The DBM will review salaries across the bureaucracy after the four-year salary standardization law has been completed, he said. — VDS, GMA News