DAVAO CITY – Teachers under the Alliance of Concerned Teachers today held a nationwide social media protest by taking pictures of themselves to demand salary increase.
Benjamin Valbuena, national chair of ACT said they would like to “register anew our long standing call for a just and decent pay for teachers and employees.”
“It is the policy of the State that education receives the highest priority in governance, and that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment,” Valbuena said.
Valbuena cited Section 5 (4), Article 14 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which says “(t)he State shall enhance the right of teachers to professional advancement. Non-teaching academic and non-academic personnel shall enjoy the protection of the State.”
Number 5 of the same section also says “(t)he State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.”
He said despite the constitutional provision, teaching personnel continue to suffer from the meager salary.
“Entry pay for public school teachers is still nailed at P18,549 a month, an amount which is way below as compared to the Family Living Wage (FLW) of P31,620. This situation deprived them a decent and dignified standard of living,” he said.
“In the United States, a Filipino teacher with at least three years of teaching experience receives around P168,000 to P336,000 per month. In Thailand, a Filipino teacher receives P46,493 a month at the minimum. Definitely, these pay levels are much higher as compared here in the Philippines,” said Valbuena.
“In order for us to retain our best of the best instructors and professors and to afford them decent and quality living standards, a pay hike must then be implemented now,” he said.(davaotoday.com)
