President Rodrigo Duterte said the he is working on the petition of public school teachers for a pay increase, GMA News reported.
“We’re working on it like what I have promised. But remember that there are millions of teachers,” Duterte said in a speech before newly elected officials of Cagayan de Oro City on Wednesday.
Teachers asked for a pay hike since Congress approved a 100-percent increase in the base pay of military and other uniformed personnel. The pay hike for security personnel took effect last year.
Duterte explained that pay hike for the police and military was a priority because there is only few of them and that a country needs a strong armed forces.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones, the fiscal impact of the salary increase should be considered and assessed and that salaries of public school teachers have already improved that private school teachers are transferring to public schools.
She said increasing a teacher’s pay by P10,000 a month will cost P150 billion as there are about 830,000 teachers nationwide.
The salary of an entry-level public school teacher is P20,754 a month with P2,000 worth of Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA), a monthly allowance given to government employees.
