MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has filed a bill seeking to lift public school teachers’ burden of paying income tax.
Sotto filed Senate Bill 241, which seeks to exempt Teachers I, II and III from paying income tax. Teacher I receives a monthly salary of P20,754, Teacher II gets P22,938 while Teacher III receives P25,232.
Under the proposed measure, holiday pay, overtime pay, night shift differential and hazard pay received by Teachers I, II and III will also not be taxable.
“By lifting their burden of paying the income tax, we give our hardworking and dedicated teachers what they rightfully deserve; a gift for their unconditional love and sacrifice in making the youth our country’s wealth and pride,” Sotto said in the bill’s explanatory note.
Several lawmakers in the upper chamber have also filed bills aiming to increase the salaries or give additional compensation to educators. These include Sens. Franklin Drilon, Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara and Sherwin Gatchalian.
“We recognize the inevitable fact that our teachers play a crucial and significant role. The future of our youth and nation lies in the nurturing hands of our teachers. We consider them as our modern day heroes,” Sotto said.
President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly vowed to increase the pay for teachers—even when he was running for presidency. But educators’ salaries remain meager while the pay for uniformed personnel has doubled.
In June, 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.”