Teachers, nurses unhappy with salary standardization wage hike

Teachers and nurses were disappointed over a coming wage hike that would be based on a new round of the Salary Standardization Law as announced by President Rodrigo Duterte in his recent State of the Nation Address.

In a Friday Unang Balita report by Ian Cruz, the Teachers' Dignity Coalition said the new increase would likely be similar to the Salary Standardization's fourth round, in which salaries would increase P2,000 during a four year period.

“Ang hinihingi ng public school teachers is at least P10,000 across the board. Ngayon ang binabanggit ng ating pangulo is SSL 5. Lahat ng salary adjustments under SSL from 1989 hanggang 2016, lahat po ito hindi naging fair," said TDC chairperson Benjo Basas.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA), though they welcomed the announced wage hike, were more focused on their motion to intervene, which they filed at the Supreme Court last May 28.

Maria Liza Peraren, PNA Executive Director, said the motion aimed to enact Republic Act 9173 or the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, in which the entry level salaries of nurses in government hospitals would be at a grade 15 level of P30,000.

However, this never took place as entry level nurses salaries were lowered to salary grade 11 in 2009, with some government hospitals still unable to pay the required grade 11 salary of P20,000 per month.

The PNA even had the payslips to prove that some nurses were just earning P11,000 per month.

According to the government's Official Gazette, the P11,000 salary was only commensurate to a grade 1 up to grade 2 level.

During his fourth SONA, Duterte had said that it was "time for Congress to approve a new version of the salary standardization law, ngayon na."

With the announcement, government employees could look forward to a salary increase, though it would not be doubled unlike the salaries of police officers and servicemen.

Teachers and nurses were now included in the Salary Standardization Law's fifth round.

"What we are really looking at is for the lower salary grades, 'yung mga starting positions and a few ranks above, diyan 'yung concentration ng increase," explained Department of Finance Assistant Secretary Tony Lambino.

However, Ram Billones, a Teacher 1 for two years who was earning around P20,000 per month, reponsded, "Kung may makukuhanan ng budget, ay mas maganda sana kung mas malaki doon sa sinasabi niyang kakarampot na increase na ibibigay niya." — Jamil Sanstos/DVM, GMA News