Teachers’ group welcomes dialogue with Duterte over pay hike

MANILA, Philippines — A teachers’ organization has welcomed the invitation of President Duterte for them to have a dialogue in relation to his promise to increase the salary of public school teachers.

Benjo Basas, national chairman of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition, said they have stated publicly their desire to meet with the President to raise their concerns.

“We are more than willing to sit with the President for a dialogue. We’ve been doing this with DepEd (Department of Education) officials and if the President himself would be open for talks, it would be welcome,” he said.

“The President promised the salary hike for teachers and we hope that it will not remain as a promise,” he added.

Duterte on Thursday vowed to increase the pay of teachers this year, saying he is ready to sit with their representatives.

“Go to Malacañang, but not the left,” he said, apparently in reference to progressive organization Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT). “They claim that they are not communists. Let us not fool each other. I’ve been there.”

The Duterte administration recently drew criticisms after it was discovered that the Philippine National Police was conducting profiling activities against ACT members, whom it accused of having ties with communists.

ACT said the profiling and other cases of harassment against its members are proof of the government’s efforts to silence critics.

“If the Duterte government wants criticisms against his administration to stop, he only needs to halt his anti-teacher and anti-people policies,” said ACT secretary-general Raymond Basilio.

He cited the need for a substantial salary increase for teachers and the junking of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law as the two most pressing demands of teachers.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Franklin Drilon urged the government to implement the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) for its employees.

Drilon said former president Benigno Aquino III signed an executive order for the implementation of the SSL before he stepped down from office in June 2016.

Drilon said in an interview over radio dwIZ that the increase cannot be held hostage by the delay in the approval of the 2019 budget.

“Lawyers like me are in the better position to say whether it is constitutional or not. We have a law authorizing the salary standardization increase. That’s what PNoy signed before he left,” Drilon said.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the SSL could not be implemented since the government is operating on a re-enacted budget.

Drilon said the government has some savings left from the 2018 national budget. – Cecille Suerte Felipe