(UPDATED) The Provincial Board has expressed its support to Senate Bill No. 131 which seeks to upgrade the salary of public school teachers across the country.
A resolution authored by board members Sharon Abiog-Onda and Ryan Maminta, and adopted by the Board backed up calls to increase the Salary Grade 11 of teachers to Salary Grade 19 or P20,179 to P42,099 monthly base pay under the Salary Standardization Law.
In a press release sent by the Provincial Information Office (PIO) to Palawan News, Onda was quoted in saying on July 16 that public school teachers should receive salaries that are commensurate to the large responsibilities and workloads they have.
“Napakalaki ng responsabilidad at workload ng isang guro na madalas ay dala pa hanggang sa pag-uwi sa kani-kanilang bahay ang trabaho katulad ng paghahanda ng lesson plan, pagtsetsek ng mga test papers at takdang aralin. Kung kaya’t ipinalalagay na hindi makatarungan ang kanilang sinasahod kung ikukumpara sa bigat ng kanilang trabaho,” the statement quoted Onda.
Maminta, on the other hand, cited Republic Act 4670 or the “Magna Carta for Public School Teachers” in supporting the bill.
He said he wanted to support the Act’s purpose which is “to promote and improve the social and economic status of public school teachers, as well as their living and working conditions, their terms of employment and career prospects.
“The low salaries received by our more than 800,000 public school teachers have been a major disincentive for them to improve their skills in teaching and pursue further education and training,” Maminta said in his resolution.
He said further that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan has always been in favor of legislative measures leading to promote the well-being of the people, which includes the welfare of teachers who are poorly compensated despite their utmost efforts in contributing their knowledge, patience, and time in pursuit of children pursuing their education.
With the increase, Maminta added that more qualified and competent educators will be attracted to teach in public schools.
“Definitely, this will greatly help in motivating our teachers to strive for excellence in the field and thus, improve the quality of education in the public school system,” Maminta said.
The proposed bill was filed by Sen. Sonny Angara in the 18th Congress.
