Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 5) — As the country’s inflation rate soars anew, a teachers’ group urged the government to prioritize salary hike this year.
“We are practically at the end of our rope, significant salary increase should be the government’s top agenda as the year opens,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) chairperson Vladimer Quetua said.
Amid the holiday spending, the Philippines recorded its highest inflation since November 2008 as it ballooned to 8.1% in December 2022.
The latest number more than doubled from the 3.1% inflation rate recorded in December 2021.
READ: Marcos: PH inflation ‘out of control’
In a report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority, higher inflation in December 2022 was attributed to the faster year-on-year growth rate in the index of food and non-alcoholic beverages of 10.2%, from 10.0% in November 2022.
“The Philippines’ average inflation rate for 2022 stood at 5.8%, higher than the 2021 average inflation rate of 3.9%,” the report read.
READ: BSP sees another inflation surge in December
“The last tranche of paltry salary adjustments for government workers will be implemented this year,” Quetua said. “The measly salary hike installments in the past four years have failed to cushion the effects of soaring inflation, much less improve our living standards.”
According to Quetua, public school teachers (Teacher I, II and III) will only be receiving a net take home pay of ₱23,000 to ₱27,000 this year — a far cry from the ₱33,000 family living wage based on government data.
“Hindi na talaga namin kakayanin,” the ACT leader said. “Mas malalim na pagkakautang, mas maraming sideline, o lipat-trabaho dito man o sa ibang bansa lamang ang mapupuntahan ng mga guro, na lalong magpapabagsak sa kalidad ng edukasyon.”
[Translation: We really can’t take it anymore. Deeper debt, more side jobs, or moving to work either here or abroad are the only options of our teachers, which will further degrade the quality of education.]
The group demanded that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. certify as urgent the wage and salary increase bills filed in Congress.
In October, Quezon City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas filed House Bill No. 4070, which aims to adjust the minimum salary grade level of public school teachers from ₱25,439 to ₱49,835.
