MANILA, Philippines—The chairman of the ways and means committee of the House of Representatives is seeking a P15,000 across-the-board salary increase for public school teachers.
Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo has filed a bill proposing the salary hike for all government teachers, “regardless of their employment status and position,” to entice highly qualified educators to join the public school system.
In an explanatory note to House Bill 5137, the congressman said raising teachers’ salaries could be considered an investment to improve the quality of education in the country.
Teachers and education advocates address the shortages in public education and enact salary increase. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
“The responsibility of molding a child to become a productive Filipino citizen lies heavily in the hands of a teacher. This is the delicate duty that teachers have committed to their line of work being so intimately connected with building the nation’s future,” he said. “Despite this, however, existing laws are still unresponsive to the teachers’ plight of enduring a measly salary as compensation for their work.”
His bill seeks to increase the salaries of public school teachers by P15,000 per month, regardless of their employment status and position.
It also provides for a one-year income tax exemption for newly hired teachers who fall in the minimum salary grade.
The proposed law would cover all teaching personnel in all public schools in the elementary and secondary levels, technical and vocational schools, and state colleges and universities.
Quimbo noted that it was state policy to give the highest budgetary priority to education, and to ensure that teaching would attract and retain the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction.
The proposed law also provides for the creation of a pension fund that is separate and distinct from the Government Service Insurance System for teachers who are separated from the service due to retirement, sickness or other reasonable circumstance.
Teachers who have been in the service for 15 years shall be entitled to payments under this pension fund, the amount of which shall be determined by the Department of Education, according to the bill. A seed fund of P5 billion shall be provided for this purpose.
The bill is now pending in the appropriations committee chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab.
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