Class opening 'peaceful' amid teachers' protests, new classroom woes

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang said the resumption of classes on Monday has been "generally peaceful and orderly" amid reported protests staged by public school teachers demanding higher pay.

At a televised press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda cited information from the Philippine National Police (PNP), which did not report a major incident that marred the opening of the new school year.

Lacierda said the PNP deployed 18,500 personnel for more than 7,400 police assistance desks nationwide to assist and maintain order today.

"This is over and above the regular mobile and foot patrols that will be likewise focused on the different schools and campuses," Lacierda said.

He added that the PNP will continue to ensure a safe, secure, and peaceful opening of classes in the next few weeks.

Reports have said that some teachers will hold today a nationally-coordinated protest asking for an increase in the salaries of public school teachers and non-teaching personnel. Others have also reportedly threatened to go on mass leave.

While the administration recognizes the plight of the protesting teachers, Lacierda reminded them to think about the welfare of their students instead.

"We understand their concerns but I hope that the teachers will consider the concerns of the students," Lacierda said.

Malacañang earlier said that there are no available funds that would cover the wage hike this year.

Read: Palace to teachers: No budget for wage hike this year

Lacierda, meanwhile, said granting teachers a salary increase is up to lawmakers.

"Kasi when you're speaking of government employees, which include teachers as well, we require a Salary Standardization Law from Congress and this should be best addressed with the legislative branch," Lacierda said.

But Lacierda also did not express Malacañang's commitment to support a bill hiking the pay of public school teachers and government employees.

"Kung merong proposal we will have to look at the numbers kasi, at the end of the day, it boils down to how much are they proposing, and then how much it will impact the national budget and what will be the sources of revenue for the increase of the proposed wage increase," Lacierda said.

New classroom backlog

Ahead of the return of an estimated 26 million students from both public and private schools on Monday, the Department of Education and Malacañang earlier claimed that the shortage of classrooms had been addressed.

But media reports this morning showed that some schools still lack classrooms.

Lacierda clarified that the backlog that had been wiped out was the one inherited from the Arroyo administration. He explained that a new backlog was created due to the increase in the school population and the disasters that recently hit the country.

"The backlog that you have been mentioning about is the backlog of—the 2010 backlog. So we have already fully completed and, in fact, we are a bit more than the backlog. That was the 2010 backlog that was present when we came in," Lacierda said.

"Of course, you would understand that the population—the student population is growing, and also there were considerable damage from the typhoons that were incurred from the various typhoons that we experienced, and therefore, the construction goes on."

The Department of Budget and Management said P7.35 billion has been released to the Department of Public Works and Highways for the construction of 7,136 classrooms in 4,007 sites throughout the country.

Of the said number, 5,916 classrooms will be built in elementary schools, while 1,220 classrooms will be situated in secondary schools.