P13,000 pay hike for teachers, nurses rejected

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives has rejected proposals to increase the basic monthly pay of public school teachers and government nurses by P13,000 to P25,000.

House appropriations committee chairman Quirino Rep. Junie Cua told proponents that with the soaring budget deficit, the government cannot afford such a huge increase for teachers and nurses, who comprise the bulk of government workers.

Teachers alone number at least 500,000, Cua stressed.

What teachers and nurses would receive would be a P6,500 increase spread over four years, Cua said.

He said these groups of workers would continue to hold salary grade 11 in the 33-grade pay structure in the bureaucracy.

At present, grade 11 has a corresponding salary rate of about P12,000.

This would be increased to P18,500 under the four-year pay upgrading program the House approved on Wednesday night.

There have been proposals to upgrade the teachers’ and nurses’ salary grade to 25, which has a corresponding rate of P24,878 under the program.

Among the proponents were Representatives Carlos Padilla of Nueva Vizcaya, Edno Joson of Nueva Ecija, Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City, Luz Ilagan of Gabriela, and Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada-Guro.

The upgrading program gives high-ranking and high-salaried officials an increase of more than 100 percent, while it authorizes only a 50-percent adjustment for low-ranking low-salaried personnel.

It would double the salary of the President to P120,000, while the Vice President would receive P103,000. Vice President Noli de Castro’s monthly salary is currently about P46,200.

Senators and congressmen would get P90,000. Aside from their basic pay and allowances, they are allocated annual pork barrel funds of P200 million each in the case of senators and P70 million each in the case of members of the House of Representatives.

Other bureaucrats would get to receive more than double what they are presently getting. Undersecretaries would get P78,946; assistant secretaries, P73,099; and directors, P67,684.                 

Soldiers will get an additional P4,000, or P1,000 a year.

The adjustments will be paid starting July 1 this year. They are expected to further bloat the budget deficit, which credit ratings agencies expect to hit an unprecedented level of P270 billion.

The increases were supposed to be based on the principle “equal pay for work of equal value.”

But proponents of a bigger increase for teachers, nurses and soldiers said it is these groups of state workers who should have been given a 100-percent adjustment.

They work longer hours than high-salaried desk-bound bureaucrats, they pointed out.