Cayetano bats for additional P10,000 pay for teachers
STRESSING the need to help educators cope with the daily struggles of living as they provide the youth with proper education, Senate Majority Floor Leader Alan Peter Cayetano recently reiterated his recommendation to press for an additional P10,000 compensation for public school teachers over and above the salary standardization law.
Sen. Cayetano, an independent vice presidential aspirant, conveyed his thoughts to the Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) whose many members are from Pangasinan, as he urged the government to be more responsive to the teachers’ demand for salary increase.
“Hindi dapat tinitipid ang ating mga guro. Ang kailangan nila ay mabilis na aksyon para itaas ang kanilang mga sahod at iba pang benepisyo,” Cayetano said.
Mr. Cayetano said his proposal is part of his Senate Bill 94 that grants public school teachers, locally funded teachers, non-teaching personnel, and non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education (DepEd) additional compensation.
The senator said the salary issue is relevant to the discussions in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. “Any discussion of economic development should ultimately benefit the people especially sectors that have not felt the effects of the growing economy,” he said.
The government’s proposed entry-level position of teachers is to grant an additional amount of P2,205.00 from the present P18, 549.00 or a meager increase of less than 12%, spread over a period of four years, making the annual increase of a little more than P500.00, the lowest in recent history
The Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) praised Cayetano’s response to their demand for better benefits.
“We welcome Senator Cayetano’s swift response to our plea. He’s been part of our campaign from the very start. At a time when teachers are losing hope, the senator’s proposal re-energized our ranks,” TDC Chairperson Benjo Basas said.
Basas, who is also the first nominee of Ang Guro Partylist, said he was happy that Cayetano took a firm stance in updating the government’s erroneous compensation scheme for teachers. He said past and present salary laws classified teachers as among the lowest paid government professionals. #
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