Bill seeks pension hike for retired teachers
Senior Citizens Party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes (FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines —After the government increased public school teachers’ salaries to higher than those in most private schools, the monthly pensions of retired teachers should also be automatically adjusted based on the current pay of their last position before retirement.
In his House Bill No. 5723, Senior Citizens Party Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes sought the amendment of the 1997 Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Act to enable the automatic adjustment of the average monthly pension for retired teachers.
Ordanes, also chair of the House special committee on senior citizens, said teachers and professors were often “neglected when it comes to proper and competitive renumeration and a livable and comfortable retirement.”
To retire comfortably
By automatically adjusting the monthly pension based on the prevailing monthly pay for their last position, retired faculty of public schools and state universities and colleges (SUCs) will have a well-deserved incentive and comfortable retirement.
Ordanes said this will be a “gift and recognition of their decadeslong commitment and service in shaping our nation and promoting their well-being.”
“We simply want our public school teachers and SUC faculty to retire comfortably enough so they can attend to these health and social needs with the help of the government,” the lawmaker said in a statement on Saturday.
HB 5723 provides that the average monthly pension of public school teachers and professors in SUCs, who served for at least 15 years, will be “automatically adjusted to be equal to the latest monthly compensation of their position during retirement and every year thereafter.”
The automatic adjustment of the monthly pension will be applied retroactively to all qualified pensioners still surviving at the time of its approval.
Ordanes said he is open to comments and suggestions from the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, SUCs, the Department of Budget and Management, the GSIS, the Actuarial Society of the Philippines, and other experts to make his proposal “fiscally responsible and sustainable.”
“The legislative process considers every bill filed as a working document. I will therefore also be receptive to the wisdom of the financial and economic experts among our colleagues here in Congress,” he added.
RELATED STORIES
Teachers’ benefits under 60-year-old law still ‘mere promises’ – Senate panel
Retired teachers, education students urged to help tutor in communities
Sara Duterte to DSWD: Give all senior citizens pensions
