Bill seeks to raise public school teachers' pay to at least P30K
MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has filed a bill seeking to increase the entry-level salary of public school teachers to at least P30,000 monthly from the current P20,754.
“We should provide teachers with the right incentives to encourage them to remain in the noblest profession of educating and molding our youth to become productive citizens of this country,” Drilon said in the explanatory note of Senate Bill 19.
The bill, if passed into law, will also adjust the salaries of teachers occupying higher positions.
Drilon noted that while the education sector receives the largest share in the national budget, the pay of educators remains lower compared to salaries of other professionals.
“If we truly care about our country and its people, it would serve us well to invest in them. Devoting resources for their benefit means investing in our future,” the senator said.
Senate Bill 19 also aims to increase the basic salary of entry level teachers in state universities and colleges to at least P31,000.
Drilon is confident that the long-sought pay hike for teachers will hurdle the 18th Congress, saying there is a growing support for the proposal. Other lawmakers who have filed bills to increase the salaries of or give additional compensation to educators include Sens. Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara and Sherwin Gatchalian.
President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly vowed to increase the pay of teachers, which he promised when he was running for president. But educators’ salaries remain meager while the pay for police and military personnel have doubled.
Last month, Education Secretary Leonor Briones vowed the next salary increase for public school teachers will come as she has been working with the Cabinet’s economic team “to find ways and means to realize a salary increase for DepEd’s close to 830,000 personnel.
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