Teachers ask PBBM to honor his promise pay increase

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) acknowledges the declaration by the government that it is looking into long-term plans to raise public school teachers’ pay.

“This is a welcome development, and we hope that the government will act quickly because it was one of the president’s election-campaign promises that he had to keep,” said Benjo Basas, the group’s national chairperson.

The announcement was made yesterday at the kick-off ceremony for a week-long Brigada Eskwela in a school in Manila. President Bongbong Marcos referred to Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte when pressed about the anticipated increase in teacher salaries. Duterte said the president has directed the agency to conduct an in-depth study on the pay and benefits of teachers. The TDC said that they hope for a just compensation package under Marcos presidency and not a mere increase under the salary standardization law (SSL) as what his predecessor provided.

“What we ask is beyond increase in our salaries, it’s about rectifying the decades-old mistake of the government,” Basas, a Caloocan City teacher for 20 years exclaimed.

He argued that the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (RA 4670), a 1966 law created to institutionalize and further protect the rights and welfare of teachers, should be used as the basis for determining the compensation for teachers. However, the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) of 1989 and its most recent version, Republic Act 11466 or the SSL-5, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in January 2020, are the laws that currently govern teachers’ pay.

While acknowledging the recent wage adjustments made under the SSLs, Basas stated, “We could not help but express our frustration for the extremely low salary increases that are broken down into several tranches, a tradition under the SSL scheme.

Since the 15th Congress, the group has lobbied for a P10,000 across-the-board increase for public education workers, an amount which according to them would be reasonable enough because it would benefit all teachers and education employees, regardless of their status.

“Teachers and government workers have endured poor salaries and limited benefits ever since the SSL was initially put into place in 1989. It is time to put a stop to this unfair and discriminatory policy. It only perpetuated our poor condition and low chances for socio-economic improvement,” Basas added.

According to the Magna Carta, teachers should be given a higher level on the salary scale. Unfortunately, teachers’ salaries were set in a low bracket under SSL despite having their own special law, in contrast to those in government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), military and uniformed personnel (MUP), and government nurses. The salaries of most of the low-ranking military and uniformed personnel were doubled in 2018, while the entry-level pay for government nurses received an increase of P11, 000 three years ago as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling that the position of nurse should be at Salary Grade 15 (SG-15), which is currently equivalent to P36, 600.

The upgrading of teachers entry-level position to at least SG-15 or an outright additional P10, 000 for all the Department of Education (DepEd) employees that should be over and above the SSL would at least put our salaries at par with other professionals in the government service, Basas explained.
“Politicians would always recite rhetoric such as teaching is the noblest of all professions,’ but our salary is the lowest among all government professionals,” Basas continued, highlighting the teachers’ current status under the SSL as among the lowest among all government employees, earning only P27, 000 basic pay.

The SSL, Basas furthered does not reflect the letters and intentions of Article XIV, Section 5 (5) of the 1987 Philippine Constitution that says: The state shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment. This constitutional provision is made for us, teachers.

The Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (RA 4670) mandates the protection of rights of its teachers as well as promotion of their economic welfare. Section 15 of the said law even provides for criteria for salaries and mandates that the pay for teachers shall compare favorably with those paid in other occupations requiring equivalent or similar qualifications, training and abilities and provide a reasonable standard of life for teachers and their families.

However, during President Cory Aquino’s time, the government enacted the first salary, the SSL 1 (RA 6758) and pegged the position of public school teachers to Salary Grade 10. In 1991, the joint education committee of Congress (EDCOM) recommended that teachers entry-level position be upgraded, teachers argued that it should be at least SG-16, in accordance to Magna Carta provision cited above. But due to the intricacies of legislative process and the popular counter-argument of wage disparity, teachers and allied lawmakers eventually settled for a special compensation adjustment amounting to P10, 000 over and above the SSL amount. The same principle was approved by the Senate in 2008. But Malacanang under the then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo preferred another SSL scheme and approved its own version (SSL-3) in year 2009, teachers position was indeed raised to Salary Grade 11, but still the lowest among the professionals. In 2016, President Noynoy Aquino ordered the adjustment of government employees salary thru the SSL 4 (EO 201). The teachers received a total of P2, 205 increase spread over a period of four years (2016 to 2019). Finally, President Duterte’s legislation of SSL-5 which gives our teachers a total of P6, 246 divided in four tranches from 2020 up to this year.)

“Clearly, since Cory Aquino’s administration, when the SSL was implemented, all subsequent governments have violated this specific Magna Carta provision. Thus, President Marcos has the chance to fix this error,” Basas ended.

Increases in teachers salaries were part of Marcos Jr.s campaign promises and the TDC said they are open for dialogues with the president. #

For details:
Benjo Basas, TDC Chair
09273356375

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