Makabayan refiles bill setting teachers’ basic pay at P50K
Lawmakers of the Makabayan bloc have refiled a bill seeking to increase the minimum salary of public schoolteachers to P50,000.
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. Antonio Tinio on Monday said House Bill (HB) No. 203 is among the group’s top legislative priorities in the 20th Congress.
The Makabayan lawmakers noted in their measure that raising the teachers’ minimum pay to P50,000—or equivalent to Salary Grade 15—falls under the amended Salary Standardization Law (Republic Act No. 11466).
Yet despite the amendments in 2020 and 2024, the monthly pay for public schoolteachers remained at Salary Grade 11 (Step 1) or P30,024.
HB 203 therefore aims to “close the gap between the teachers’ salaries and the cost of living” and address “the distortion created by the doubling of entry-level pay of military and uniformed personnel,” the lawmakers said.
‘Demands’ of other workers
“This bill mandates the Department of Budget and Management, in consultation with public sector unions, to recommend to Congress the appropriation of the necessary funds,” the measure said further.
“This bill parallels the demand of the rest of those dutifully toiling in the civilian bureaucracy for substantial salary increases, as well as the demand of workers in the private sector for a national minimum daily wage,” it added.
The bloc said once the bill is enacted into law, the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Budget and Management will be tasked to consult with schoolteachers’ unions and promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the measure.
Other pay
In February last year, then ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro filed HB 9920, a precursor of the current measure, as she noted the growing number of teachers forced to find jobs abroad since their entry-level salary of P27,000 was not enough to cover the prices of fuel and basic commodities.
Since October 2023, the party-list group has been calling for a P50,000 entry-level salary.
The teachers also appealed for free medical checkups and treatment, an increase in instructional allowance and compensation for teaching overload.
Furthermore, they called on the government to tackle the shortages in school facilities and other resources.
