Party-list solon files bills to increase salaries of teachers, gov’t personnel

ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro on Wednesday filed two bills seeking to increase the salary of teaching and non-teaching personnel both in public elementary and secondary schools and in higher education institutions, as well as of government employees.

In House Bill 5990, Castro wants to upgrade the minimum salaries of public school teachers to Salary Grade 15, the teaching personnel in higher education institutions to Salary Grade 16, and the wages of non-teaching personnel to P16,000.

"This bill provides a substantial salary increase for teachers and education sector personnel through salary upgrading closing the gap between their salaries and the cost of living. It will also address the distortion created by the doubling of entry-level pay of military and uniformed personnel," Castro said.

Meanwhile, House Bill 5991, which Castro also filed, aims to increase the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance of government employees from P2,000 to P5,000.

"PERA is a monthly compensation to all government employees, whether paid on salary, wages, or base pay basis across all agencies. This is considered a supplement to the basic compensation of government employees due to the rising cost of living," she said.

"It is high time that government increase this compensation as its last adjustment was 11 years ago and would greatly aid government personnel for a more substantial relief from today's high cost of living," she added.

According to Castro, the salaries that teachers have been receiving are from what other professions with similar qualifications and workload since President Rodrigo Duterte doubled the salaries of military and uniformed personnel.

She believes that the recently-enacted Salary Standardization Law V does not bridge the gap between the salaries received by low- and middle-level salary grades.

"Teachers are only given increases of a little over P6,000 spread across four years, or about P1,500 annually. This is a far cry from their calls for a substantial increase in salaries since these measly increases given in tranches will only be quickly eaten up away by excise taxes and inflation," she said.

"Even after the full implementation of the Salary Standardization Law V in 2023, the frontliners in education will still be no better off than the police and soldiers in uniform whose salaries swiftly increased by 50% to 100% by the Duterte administration," she added.

The President, Castro said, cannot just claim that the government does not have the funds to substantially increase the salary of teachers.

"This is a matter of budget prioritization. The Duterte administration simply does not prioritize substantially increasing the salaries of its public school teachers and other civilian employees," she said.

Castro is urging her fellow lawmakers at the House to immediately pass the measures she just filed.

"Public school teachers have nothing to be thankful for with the recently passed Salary Standardization Law of 2019 of the Duterte administration and teachers will continue to demand for the substantial salary increase they deserve," she said. — RSJ, GMA News