Teachers to Press P10,000 Salary Hike; Hold Nationwide Noise Barrage Today

Public school teachers all over the country are set to hold a noise barrage today to call for the enactment of pending bills that seeks a P10,000 across-the-board salary increase.

All teachers nationwide were urged to make noise to assert for the passage of the salary increase bills now in Congress, report said. Organizers said that at 10 am Friday, bells are expected to ring in various schools nationwide to jump start the noise barrage.

Last Wednesday, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), a 30,000-strong group who leads the protest action, attended the Senate Education Committee hearing on teachers’ salary increase.

The Senate Committee on Education, chaired by Sen. Pia Cayetano, tackled the bills – “An Act Providing For Additional Support And Compensation For Educators In Basic Education” filed by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (SBN 94); Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino (SBN 2365); and Sen. Cynthia Villar (SBN 2423) along with other related bills.

TDC National Chairperson Benjo Basas, said the activity coincides with the school level celebration of World Teachers’ Day (WTD), which is marked every 5th of October worldwide.

The group appealed to President Aquino to order the budget department to reconsider its proposal to Congress.

“We hope this noise will reach Malacañang and will not fall on deaf ears,” he said.

The pending bills seek to provide a P10,000 across-the-board increase in the salaries of teachers and Department of Education personnel – except for SBN 94 which provides for P9,000, among other benefits.

TDC also submitted copies of a petition signed by teachers from La Union, Ilocos, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Cebu, Bohol, Samar, Leyte and Zamboanga.

TDC secretary general Emmalyn Policarpio said the they remain hopeful that their demand for salary increase would be granted by the Congress.

“We feel that they don’t have any opposition to our demand and we think we we’re able to justify the need for the salary increase for teachers,” she added.

Earlier, Education Secretary Armin Luistro had expressed support to public school teachers who are demanding for salary increase, saying he will not object to “any measure that will help public school teachers “as long as there is funding…a raise in teachers’ salaries will be welcomed.”

Reports said that while DepEd supports teachers’ call for increase, it reminded that related activities such as protests should not affect the delivery of services to the pupils.

DepEd will lead the World Teachers’ Day celebration and the culmination of the National Teachers’ Month (NTM) on October 4 at the Victorias Sports and Amusement Center in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.