Teachers demand salary increase

Protesters, mostly public school teachers, shout slogans as they are pushed away from the gates of the Presidential Palace by police to protest alleged inaction by the government in raising their salary petition Monday, June 2, 2014 in Manila. The protest, coincided with the opening of classes Monday for the school year 2014-2015. AP PHOTO/BULLIT MARQUEZ

MANILA, Philippines–Around 100 public school teachers and members of militant groups pushed for a salary increase for educators during a rally in Mendiola, Manila, on Monday afternoon, the first day of the school year.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines together with student groups that included Kabataan party list, National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), League of Filipino Students (LFS) and Anakbayan carried an oversized mock report card marked with the letter “F,” which they said “signified President Aquino’s failures in various fields of competency.”

The report card was later burned by the protesters near the Mendiola Peace Arch.

ACT national chair Benjie Valbuena said the mass action was aimed at seeking a solution to the “perennial problems of public education in the

country.”

“We want to press the Department of Education and the present administration to immediately enact a law increasing the wage of public school teachers and employees,” ACT party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said in a speech during the rally.

In July, Tinio filed House Bill No. 245, which pushes for an increase in the minimum monthly salaries of public school teachers, specifically, P25,000 for them and P15,000 for nonteaching personnel.

But this April, President Aquino announced that there would be no salary increase for government employees this year because of the lack of funds.

For high school teacher Marissa Peñaflor, who has been teaching Math at Carlos P. Garcia High School in Pandacan for almost 30 years, the basic salary given to teachers is not enough to support their present needs especially now that she is sending two of her children to college.

Peñaflor recalled that it has been more than six years since her salary went up by P6,000. This was during the term of then President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, she said.

“We ask the President to increase the budget for education so that we teachers will be able to support our needs,” Peñaflor told the Inquirer.

The 53-year-old high school teacher also noted that because of the tax deducted from their monthly income on top of payments for loans they were forced to make, a new teacher sometimes takes home only P3,000 a month.

For Valbuena, the proposed increase in the salary of teachers was not too excessive and would not cause a budget deficit for the national government.

“This increase will only cost around P3 billion in a year, a small amount compared to the billions of public funds wasted in the hands of corrupt

politicians,” he said.

The groups, who gathered at Mendiola, also slammed the Aquino administration’s “continued incompetence” in addressing education problems.

Valbuena shared that in the Calabarzon and Central Luzon areas, Camarines Sur, Bacolod sand Bukidnon, class sizes grew from 50 to 90 students, almost double the previous number.

He added that the problem of overcrowding was made worse by a shortage of books, chairs, classrooms, facilities and even teachers, thus affecting the quality of education in the whole country.

It was noted that in some schools such as Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City, teachers had to split a normal-sized classroom into two in order to accommodate at least 60 students.

“Sometimes teachers are even forced to shell out money from their own pockets to buy the basic materials needed for class,” Valbuena said.