Release full P20,000 incentive for teachers, government urged

MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) yesterday urged the government to allocate more funding to provide the full P20,000 service recognition incentive (SRI) to public school teachers and other Department of Education (DepEd) personnel.

ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said the release of the maximum allowable incentive this year would be “in the spirit of fairness and due appreciation of the teachers’ service to the nation this Christmas season.”

“Citing that DepEd has too many employees and the agency savings cannot afford to pay full benefits is an unacceptable excuse. It is not our teachers’ fault that there are about 900,000 of them,” Quetua said in a statement.

“The national government should ensure that our teachers receive their benefits in full and on time, in recognition of their valuable service to the youth,” he added.

Last week, President Marcos issued an administrative order authorizing the grant of a one-time SRI this year at a uniform rate not exceeding P20,000 per government employee.

The amount that state workers will receive will be determined based on available funding of each agency.

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte authorized the release of P15,000 for every DepEd personnel, including about one million public school teachers and non-teaching personnel.

The funding will be sourced from the agency’s personnel services budget and augmented by available 2022 allotment for maintenance and other operating expenses.

While DepEd personnel received the full P10,000 incentive in 2019 and 2021, Quetua noted that it was given in two tranches. Only P6,190 was provided in 2020, compared to P10,000 received by other government personnel.

Duterte ordered the release of DepEd personnel’s SRI not later than Jan. 6, 2023.