With just a month before the official election season, the country prepares for a showdown among the top presidential candidates aiming to persuade the Filipino votes. Although teachers are expected to be nonpartisan during the elections, they are a silent block who will comprise almost 700,000 votes excluding teachers in the private sector and the tertiary level.
Here are the political platforms of 2016 presidential aspirants on the situation of teachers in the Philippines:
Jejomar Binay
The camp of Vice President Jejomar C. Binay Tuesday laid out his plans to improve teachers’ welfare, including raising their basic salary.Source: Office of the Vice President Website
"The Vice President will ask the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council, which he plans to convene immediately under his presidency, to include bills increasing teachers’ salaries and benefits among other priorities,” Joey Salgado, media affairs head for the Office of the Vice President, said.
“We are looking at adjusting the salary of a Teacher 1 from the salary Grade 11 (P18,549) to at least salary Grade 19 (P33,859),” he added.
Salgado also said Binay intends to provide teachers increased instructional materials allowance, study grants for their children, tax exemptions for additional benefits given to them, and funeral assistance through discounts in burial services.
The Vice President also plans to give public school teachers study leaves with pay every so many years, to enable them to upgrade their knowledge and teaching skills, Salgado added.
Implementing these plans entails a huge budget that’s why Vice President Binay would push for a 20 percent increase in the share of the education budget.
Rody Duterte
"My mother was a teacher, and to her retirement days, she was paying 5-6 and now there are so many teachers in this country who have to walk 3-5 hours just to get to the schools where they teach. Gamitin ko yung pera. I’ll increase the salaries of the teachers, the police and the military. I’ll give them more than double. But if they (Congress) bill to shit … maybe I’ll just – maluwang naman yung Manila Bay.Source: Rappler
Miriam Defensor-Santiago
"Public school teachers are among the most unpaid workers in our society. Despite the fact that they are heralded as molders of our children’s future, public school teachers receive only less than Ten Thousand Pesos a month each for their basic salary. The teachers are considered to be the prime mover of the education system; hence, the government needs to give priority to their interest and welfare.Source: 14th Congress Senate Bill No. 2300, filed on May 20, 2008 -- AN ACT INCREASING THE SALARY GRADE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS FROM SALARY GRADE 10 TO 20 AND PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR
Thus, to give meaning to the spirit and intent of the above mentioned constitutional provisions, there is now an indispensable need to upgrade the salary grade of our public school teachers. This is a Senate counterpart bill to one filed in the House of Representatives by Rep. Raul V. Del Mar II."
SECTION 1. Increase in the Minimum Salary Grade Level. - The present minimum salary grade level of public school teachers in the elementary and secondary schools shall be upgraded from Grade 10 to Grade 20; Provided, however, That the salary upgrading shall be differentiated in accordance with the qualifications and length of service rendered by teachers and shall not be prejudiced by across the board adjustments.
Grace Poe
Salaries of public school teachers do not compare favorably with other occupations in government as a duly licensed professional teacher occupying the entry-level position of Teacher I earns P18,549 a month (Salary Grade 11, Step 1).Source: 16th Congress Senate Bill 2310, filed on July 15, 2014 -- AN ACT TO ASSIST THE LIVING CONDITION OF FILIPINO TEACHERS AND NON-TEACHING PERSONNEL IN THE PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS BY INCREASING THEIR MINIMUM MONTHLY SALARIES, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR THE PURPOSE
The salaries of public school teachers are currently unable to "insure a reasonable standard of life for themselves and their families." According to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, the family living wage in the National Capital Region, estimated at P957 per day or more than P21,054 per month, which means that many teachers resort to borrowing from government financial institutions such as the Government Service Insurance System, private lending institutions, or loan sharks in order to cope with this "living salary gap."
SECTION 3. Raising the Minimum Salaries of Public School Teachers. The present 14 minimum salaries of public school teachers in the elementary and secondary schools shall be 15 raised from P18,549 to P25,OOO a month. The salaries of those occupying higher position shall be 16 adjusted accordingly.
Mar Roxas
The Liberal Party standard bearer took time to list the administration’s several achievements in its education agenda, most notably the prioritization of education in the national budget. In his speech, Roxas lamented that the sum total of the education budgets under the 12 combined years of President Joseph Estrada and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s terms was only P1.6 trillion.Source: marroxas.com
On the other hand, “Ang suma total po sa panunungkulan ng ni Pangulong PNoy sa daang matuwid, limang taon, ay P1.2 trillion,” Roxas said. “At kung isusuma natin ‘yung budget para sa ika-anim na taon ni PNoy na humigit kumulang P400 billion, sa anim na taon ni PNoy, nahigitan niya ‘yung 12 taon na ng dalawang nakalipas na pangulo.”
Whose agenda will win the teachers' support? (Photos taken from the respective politicians' FB accounts)
