SAYING that their salary is one of the lowest and officially ranks them among the poorest in the country, a militant legislator filed a bill on Wednesday seeking to increase the salary of public-school teachers by P9,000 a month.

Party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela said teachers need a salary increase for them to ease the burden brought about by the current oil and food crises.

Ilagan said that teachers’ average monthly salary of P10,933 is far less than the National Wage and Productivity Commission’s recommended daily family living wage in the Metro Manila of P882 per day, or P19,404 per month.

“The very low average salary of teachers forced many of them to work in educational institutions abroad. Some teachers and education graduates even chose to become domestic help or caregivers in other countries because these jobs offer salaries higher than what they will receive as teachers in the Philippines,” said Ilagan, a former college professor in Davao.

Ilagan promised to exhaust all efforts for the House of Representatives to immediately pass the bill into law, especially after the Bangko Sentral confirmed that the prices of oil and food products will continue to skyrocket after the inflation rate hit double digits in June.

“Teachers, as well as other employees and workers, need more than just one-time subsidies to keep up with the high cost of living in the Philippines,” she said.

Ilagan said that the P9,000 increase will be in addition to the teachers’ existing salary and benefits to be paid in three tranches. It covers teachers of all nationally and locally funded public schools and nonteaching personnel of the Department of Education. Initial funding will come from the Executive branch and other sources to be determined by the Office of the President.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers joined Ilagan in the filing of the bill.

The militant teachers’ organization also staged a rally outside the Batasan Complex in Quezon City on Wednesday to demand urgent action on the measure.

The bill was co-authored by Party-list Reps. Liza Maza, also of Gabriela and Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna and Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis.

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Solon seeks salary increase for teachers

SAYING that their salary is one of the lowest and officially ranks them among the poorest in the country, a militant legislator filed a bill on Wednesday seeking to increase the salary of public-school teachers by P9,000 a month.

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