The four Camarines Sur congressmen have filed bills mandating increases in salary and supply allowance of public school teachers.
Citing the current inflation that the country, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the public school teachers need the increases to help them cope with the rising cost of living.
“Despite their heavy workload and essential role as agents of constructive intellectual, social, cultural, political and moral change in our society, our public school teachers are among the most underpaid workers in the country,” Villafuerte said.
“Increasing their take-home pay and providing for a permanent teaching supplies allowance with a provision for a steady bump per school-year will hopefully incentivize them to strive for excellence in their field and make teaching a more attractive profession for our students.”
Villafuerte and three fellow Camarines Sur representatives authored House Bill 1851 mandating a significant increase in the salary grade level of public elementary and high school teachers from Grade 11 to Grade 19.
In HB 1849, meanwhile, the four lawmakers wanted to make permanent the school supplies’ allowance of P5,000 that public school teachers have been given during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown to lessen their burden in coughing up their personal money to deliver education services during the hybrid learning system of face-to-face and remote or online teaching.
The NUP president authored HB 1851 and HB 1849 with Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata along with Bicol Saro Rep. Nicolas Enciso VIII.
The four congressmen pointed out the constitutional duty of the State to “enable conducive working conditions for our teachers and ensure that the teaching profession will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents in the country through adequate remuneration.”
“In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, they may be recognized as education frontliners that took an invaluable role to continue learning amongst our students though alternative modes,” they said. “Despite their contribution, workload, and role in the society, public school teachers are among the most underpaid workers in the country.”
In HB 5851, the four lawmakers said their proposed salary upgrade shall be “differentiated in accordance with the five qualifications and length of service rendered by teachers and shall not be prejudiced by across-the-board salary adjustments.”
The bill mandates the national government to appropriate such amount, as may be necessary to carry out the proposed pay hike, and that this salary increase shall “take priority over other non-educational and non-agricultural budgetary allocations.”
It requires the Department of Education (DepEd) to come up with a specific programmed budget needed to cover the expenses for the upgrading in salary levels of all the corresponding teacher plantilla positions for a period of at least five (5) years “to allow the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to make the necessary budgetary adjustments to facilitate the smooth implementation of this Act.”
HB 5851 states that the amount necessary to implement the pay hike plan shall be included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the year following this bill’s enactment into law
In HB 5849, the four CamSur solons noted that one of the sectors that have severely suffered during the pandemic is 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. This predicament has compelled our teachers, especially those in public basic education, to shoulder additional expenses for internet connectivity, electronic gadgets, and other necessary materials, among other concerns.”