Sen. Sonny Angara today filed a bill increasing the salaries of public school teachers, a move  that dovetails with President Duterte’s promise to the country's 800,000 public mentors that it will be their turn to get a salary increase following the one given to soldiers and policemen. 

In his bill, Angara  proposed that the present Salary Grade (SG) 11 of entry-level teachers be increased to SG 19. 

At present , a teacher holding the lowest “SG 11, Step 1”  appointment    has a monthly basic salary of P19, 077.  Under Angara’s bill, this will go up to P36, 409. 

To avoid “salary distortion”,  the bill seeks to adjust correspondingly the salaries of teachers holding higher salary grades such as the Master Teachers. "It will be across-the-board," Angara said.  

But the “upgrading in salary levels for all the corresponding teacher plantilla positions” will be done over a period of at least five years to allow the Department of Budget and Management  to make the necessary budgetary adjustments, Angara explained in his bill. 

While members of the uniformed services of the  AFP and the DND   have had their base pay increased already, with some ranks seeing their pay doubled, teachers have yet to receive theirs, despite repeated assurances from the Chief Executive. 

“Merong kasi ‘parity rule’ na matagal nang sinusunod sa pasweldo sa gobyerno. Na ang Teacher 1, Private, Police Officer 1, Fire Officer 1, Jail Officer 1, pareho ang sweldo. If you raise one, you raise all. In this bill, we are just trying to restore this equity, “ he said.

Angara said a pay hike will demonstrate to the teachers the nation's gratitude for their selfless work in educating our children.  

“It will greatly help in motivating our teachers to strive for excellence in their field and thus, improve the quality of our education ," he added.

Angara his bill  “will at the very least   set the ball rolling in discussing the  elements of the promised pay hike for DepEd teachers.”

“This sets the stage and the framework for this unfinished business and unredeemed promise. Kung may counter-proposal  ang executive, of course, we will listen. Ang importante, masimulan na ang diskusyon, “ he said.