ACT tells DepEd to stop misleading public on teachers’ pay

Joselyn Martinez, ACT national chairperson (Photo from the Facebook account of ACT)

MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) urged the Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday to stop misleading the public on teachers’ pay, after the latter claimed that a Teacher I receives P30,873 monthly compensation and benefits.

According to ACT, the claim of DepEd is far from the truth and this is a deliberate distortion of the true figures on the salary of teachers in the country.

“DepEd arrived at such an illusory figure by adding our salary and all other benefits and allowances teachers receive in a year, then dividing it by 12. Even their contributions to PhilHealth and the like as employer were included,” said ACT chairperson Joselyn Martinez in a statement.

Martinez called out the “crunched up” figure released by the department since it even included allowances for the teachers’ performance of duty.

In particular, she said that the P6,000 clothing allowance for teachers’ uniform and P3,500 cash allowance for chalk and other instructional materials per year were included in the figure.

ACT, likewise, questioned the P500 annual medical examination allowance per year included in the computation, since this benefit is still uncertain as President Rodrigo Duterte listed it under conditional implementation upon signing of the 2019 General Appropriations Act.

“One can be forgiven for thinking that DepEd declared such ridiculous figure to dilute the conversation on salary increase. If anything, it more than supports the general belief that DepEd is against a meaningful pay raise for teachers,” said Martinez.

She then reiterated ACT’s call for a substantial pay hike, as she said teachers deserve a chance for a decent living, too.

“We are people too who have our own families to support. We hope DepEd will finally understand this and stand behind us as we continue to clamor for just compensation,” she said.

ACT calls for a P30,000 salary for Teacher I, Php31,000 for Instructor I, and P16,000 pay for salary grade 1 government employees. (Editor: Jonathan P. Vicente)