Makabayan solon slams Marcos admin for rejection of proposed salary hike

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro. INQUIRER.net file photo / Noy Morcoso

MANILA, Philippines — House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro expressed her dismay at the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for denying their call to increase the salary of teachers.

“Based on the DBM’s reply this month to the petition of 60,000 teachers for a substantial pay hike submitted to Malacañang in November 2022, they still have to conduct a compensation study this year,” said Castro in a statement issued Friday.

“It seems that they already have a conclusion, and they do not want to grant a salary increase for teachers even with the runaway inflation,” she added.

Castro pointed out the government’s efforts to grant VAT (value-added-tax)-exemption to foreign tourists in the country while neglecting the needs of overworked teachers, especially in this coming Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

READ: President Marcos okays VAT refund for foreign tourists

According to Castro, the DBM said granting the teachers a salary hike would result in “salary distortion.”

“Nung dinoble ang sahod ng mga pulis at sundalo ay di naman nila ito sinabi. Halatang ayaw nilang itaas ang sahod ng mga guro at kung anu-anong palusot ang sinasabi,” she said.

(They did not say this when they doubled the police and soldier’s salary. Evidently, they are just making an excuse and do not want to raise teachers’ pay.)

“The Marcos administration is exposing itself as anti-teacher, and it should correct this by substantially increasing the salaries of teachers,” Castro added.

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