Cayetano to colleagues: speed up discussions on teachers’ additional allowances

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has called on his colleagues at the Senate to fast-track the passage of a measure that would augment public school teachers’ allowances.

Cayetano on October 4 urged the Senate Committee on Education to start conducting hearings on the proposed Senate bills seeking to sufficiently increase teachers’ salaries and benefits.

“With the dawn of real change initiated by the new administration, now is the perfect time that we give our teachers the proper services that they deserve from the government,” Cayetano said as he underscored the observance of National Teachers’ Day celebration on October 5.

Last July, the senator filed Senate Bill No. 75, which aims to provide additional support and compensation for educators in basic education.

The bill seeks to grant public school teachers P9,000 in additional monthly compensation by the end of three tranches in three years. It will be much higher than the approved 12-percent salary hike for public school teachers granted by the previous administration, that provided teachers with only be a little more than P500 per year adjustment per year.

“Despite their important role in society, Filipino teachers don’t receive the appropriate salary grade that they are entitled to,” Cayetano said. “[SBN 75] is in response to their clamor for the urgently needed support, considering that their present compensation package places them in a peculiar situation of being just within the present poverty threshold,” he added.

'Ensure implementation of Magna Carta law for teachers’

Cayetano’s bill also directs the Department of Education (DepEd) to grant teachers an annual bonus to answer for the unpaid benefits due to them under Republic Act No. 4670 or the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers Act.

SBN 75 further seeks to give teachers an annual medical allowance of at least P1,000 and to authorize the Local School Board to provide them with additional support in the form of allowances and other remuneration funded from local school board funds.#