Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte on Thursday said the House of Representatives has ratified a proposed law doubling the 800,000 public school teachers’ P5,000-annual allowance for supplies.
Congress has approved on third and final reading the proposed Teaching Supplies Allowance Act seeking to raise the supplies allowance of public elementary and secondary teachers from the current P5,000 to P10,000.
The Senate passed its version of the measure earlier this year.
Before going on their five-week yearend break starting Dec. 14, the lawmakers unanimously passed House Bill 9682 which Speaker Martin Romualdez said was in recognition of the “selfless service of our educators” and to “advance the welfare of public school teachers.”
From the present P5,000 annual allowance, the House-approved bill raised the amount to P7,500 for school year 2024-2025, and to P10,000 in succeeding years.
The higher allowance would be included in the outlay of the Department of Education under the General Appropriations Act.
Last May, the Senate approved its counterpart measure, Senate Bill No. 1964 or the Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act proposing the same amount of supplies allowance for teachers.
HB 9682 consolidated 17 similar measures, including HB 1849 that Villafuerte authored with Representatives Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata as co-authors.
In the House version of the bill, the legislators noted that one of the sectors that have severely suffered during the pandemic was education, and that “with the closure of schools, students and teachers were forced to resort to alternative learning methods to ensure continuity of learners’ education.
The situation has compelled the teachers, especially those in public schools, to shoulder additional expenses for internet connectivity, electronic gadgets, and other necessary materials, among other concerns.
To recognize the teachers’ predicament, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Budget Management (DBM) issued Joint Circular No. 2 implementing Special Provision No. 11 in the 2021 GAA on cash allowance for schoolteachers in basic education.
The circular entitled the teachers to a maximum P5,000 cash allowance for the purchase of teaching materials and supplies, as well as for the expenses they incur on internet connection, communications and annual medical examination.
The circular only covered an allowance for a limited duration for public school teachers who were still enduring the continued effects of the pandemic.
The proposal aims to provide additional financial relief to public school teachers by making this temporary allowance a permanent one, and with a provision for a steady increase in amount over the succeeding school years.