CEBU, Philippines — Both houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, have approved the measure that doubled the supply allowance of about 800,000 public school teachers across the country, a senior administration lawmaker has revealed.
Rep. L-Ray Villafuerte (Camarines Sur) said the Lower Legislative Chamber approved on third and final reading earlier in December House Bill 9682 (Teaching Supplies Allowance Act), which the Senate also passed in May this year, thru Senate Bill 1964 (Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act).
The proposed Teaching Supplies Allowance Act, where congressmen voted 247-0, seeks to raise the supplies allowance of public elementary and secondary teachers from the current P5,000 to P10,000.
From the annual P5,000 allowance, the House-approved bill will raise it to P7,500 for school year 2024-2025, and to P10,000 later. The higher allowance will be included in the outlay of the Department of Education (DepEd) under the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Speaker Martin Romualdez said this is in recognition of the selfless service of our educators and to advance the welfare of public school teachers.
The allowance can be used to acquire tangible or intangible teaching supplies and materials, pay incidental expenses, and implement various learning delivery modes.
HB 9682 consolidated 17 measures, including HB 1849 that Villafuerte authored, along with Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata, all of Camarines Sur. First-term Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan (Bicol Saro party-lost) also co-authored the consolidated bill.
The Bicolano lawmakers noted that one of the sectors that have severely suffered during the pandemic was education, and that with the closure of schools, students and teachers were forced to resort to alternative learning methods to ensure continuity of learners education.
This predicament has compelled our teachers, especially those in public basic education, to shoulder additional expenses for internet connectivity, electronic gadgets, and other necessary materials, among other concerns, they said.
They recalled that recognizing this teachers predicament, the DepEd and DBM issued Joint Circular 2 implementing Special Provision 11 in the 2021 GAA on cash allowance for schoolteachers in basic education.
Joint Circular 2 entitled teachers to each get a maximum P5,000 cash allowance for the purchase of teaching materials and supplies as well as for the expenses they incur on internet connection, communications and their annual medical examination.
However, the said circular only covered an allowance for a limited duration for public school teachers who were still enduring the continued effects of the pandemic, according to the bill authors.
Hence, their proposal to provide added financial relief to public school teachers by making this temporary allowance a permanent one, and with a provision for a steady increase in amount over the succeeding school years. Philippine Star News Service