The Alliance of Concerned Teachers slammed the delay of the 4th tranche of the salary adjustment for public school teachers, which should have taken effect on Jan. 1.
ACT national chairperson Joselyn Martinez said as per Budget chief Benjamin Diokno, the delay in the salary increase, while it can be implemented retroactively, was due to the failure of the Congress to pass the 2019 proposed budget.
“This is another concrete manifestation of how ordinary Filipinos, such as public school teachers like us, are made to bear the brunt of the rift among Duterte’s cohorts in the bureaucracy. The miniscule increase in our salaries from the Salary Standardization Law has now been held hostage pending the resolution of billions-worth of budget issues,” Martinez said.
“These delays could not have come at a worse time, what with the fuel tax hike and the increase in the prices of utilities because of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law. It is time Diokno and the rest of the Duterte administration admit the failure and criminality of TRAIN, which is now being exposed as just another source of funding for corruption within the bureaucracy.”
She also called on Diokno to “drop the pretense” in being responsive to the needs of public school teachers.
“Sec. Joke-No has earned himself a reputation of being anti-teacher and anti-people. Do not use us and our interests to further your ‘Build, Build, Build’ agenda,” Martinez said.
ACT has renewed its call for the immediate implementation of a substantial salary increase, saying the additional P500/month from SSL barely covers the losses in the real value of teachers’ salary due to inflation.
The group is calling for a P30,000 salary for Teacher I, P31,000 for Instructor I, and P16,000 for salary grade 1 employees.
ACT also urged President Rodrigo Duterte to order a P3,000 increase in the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance for public school teachers.