Young calls Rama "dawat limpyo"

As he opposes across-the-board increase for teachers’ salaries

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young yesterday described Mayor Michael Rama as “dawli” or dawat-limpyo because of the mayor’s move to take over the management of the City’s scholarship program, months after Rama also took over the chairmanship of the City’s School Board that Young previously headed.

Also yesterday, Young suggested that instead of giving across-the-board wage increase for all public school teachers nationwide, the wage hike should be given based on their performance and for those who will be appointed to higher ranks.

On the scholarship program, Rama said it is clearly provided in the ordinance that the mayor is the chairman of the school board, while the city’s scholarship program is also under the management of the mayor’s office.

Rama’s secretary, Belinda Navasquez, said the ordinance provides that the school board is composed of the mayor as chairman, the city superintendent of schools as co-chairman, and Young being the head of the City Council’s committee on Education would sit only as one of the members.

Meanwhile, Young is advocating for a performance-based increase for teachers instead of across the board.

Young issued the statement in reaction to the proposal of ACT Teachers Party List Rep. Antonio Tinio that the lowest ranked teachers should be paid P22,688 every month based on Salary Grade 15.

At present, the lowest ranked teachers or those with the rank of Teacher-1 is receiving a monthly pay of P17,099. If Tinio’s proposal is approved, teachers in the lowest rank will get a monthly increase of their salaries amounting to P5,589.

According to Young, he supports the increase of the salaries of teachers, but not for P5,589 immediately from their present salary grade.

Tinio’s proposed bill also asked the government to regularize all volunteer or contractual teachers by creating at least 104,000 new permanent teacher items to address the shortage of teachers.

While Tinio suggested P22,688 monthly salaries for the lowest rank teachers, he also proposed to increase P6,000 for non-teaching personnel, aside from increasing the chalk allowance to P2,000, P5,000 for the Base Productivity Pay and P6,000 for the Clothing Allowance.

Young said that the Department of Education (DepEd) did not open the items for the position of Teacher 2 that is why a teacher may not be promoted until he retires and that’s the time that he gets the one rank promotion.

In his privilege speech in Congress, Tinio said the government must go beyond words by just saying “thank you” to the teachers by giving them what is just and due them and the best way of showing gratitude to our teachers would be the upgrading of their salaries.

In Cebu City, Young said he will suggest to members of the School Board that the present monthly Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) shall be P40 per day starting next year.

Young received a letter-request from Neri T. Calago of the National Organization of Professional Teachers Inc. (NOPTI) to upgrade the teacher’s COLA to P1,500 a month. (FREEMAN)