Teachers stage rally for wage increase

By Lito Rulona,
Correspondent

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The local chapter of the Alliance for Concerned Teachers (Act) staged a candle-lit protest rally in support of their nationwide sit-down strike and ‘Grand Lobbying Day of Protest’ for salary increase, here Tuesday evening.

Cornelio Salvaloza Jr., Act-CdO chairman, said their nationally coordinated protest rally is meant to pressure Congress to allocate funds in time for the 2016 National Budget Briefing and the commemoration of the World Teacher’s Month.

“We support our national chapter to pressure the government. Before mo kanaug si President Benigno Aquino III by 2016 kinahang-lan nga mohatag na siya sa iyang gisaad nga increase,” he said.

Salvaloza said a family of four would need at least P30,000 a month in order to sustain their monthly basic needs and yet the monthly pay is still nailed at P18,549 per month.

“This is the reason why majority of Filipino public school teachers are indebted to loan sharks. Teacher’s Month is celebrated through out the world in recognition of teachers’ valuable contribution in nation building. However, this recognition is nothing but an empty rhetoric as we continue to suffer from meager salaries and benefits,” he said.

Last May 2014, ACT started the campaign for a decent and living wage and even trooped several times to the gates of Malacañang to pressure the Aquino administration. In November last year, the group staged its first sit-down strike where teachers halted in delivering their lesson for the day and instead discussed their plight and the ills of the education system of the country.

Salvaloza said the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act 4670) and the Salary Standardization Law III are violated by the current administration as it continuously deny the salary increase that they deserve.

Magna Carta of Public School Teachers states that the teachers’ salary shall compare favorably with those paid in other occupations requiring equivalent or similar qualifications, trai-nings and abilities.

(Section 15a) and “that they shall be such as to insure teachers a reasonable standard of life for themselves and their families” (Section 15b). Salary Standardization Law III Section 1e on the other hand clearly states that “A periodic review of the government’s Compensation and Position Classification System shall be conducted every three years, taking into account the changes in skills and competency requirement in the bureaucracy, the relative demand for certain expertise, the possible erosion in the purchasing power due to inflation and other factors.”

“Our sit-down strike will not be the last. As we continue to suffer from our meager pay, we are ready to exhaust all means to force the present administration to allocate substantial increase in our monthly salaries by enacting into law ACT Teachers party list’ House Bill 245 will bring entry pay from P18,549 to P25,000 per month,” Salvaloza pointed out.