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By Jonathan Hicap Reporter
TEACHERS and other government
employees will hold a “Black Valentine” protest on Wednesday to
demand for a P3,000-across-the-board salary increase.
The Alliance of Concerned
Teachers (ACT) scored the 10-percent salary increase granted by the
Arroyo administration to all government employees starting this
July, saying it is not enough since government employees’ last pay
hike was in 2001.
ACT chairman Antonio Tinio said
the cost of living for a family of six has grown by 51.57 percent
between 2001 and 2006.
“As of January 2007, the daily
cost of living in Metro Manila stands at P793. That’s P17,446
monthly. Meanwhile, a public-school teacher’s salary is pegged at
P9,939. Obviously, a 10-percent increase won’t make a big
difference,” he said.
In the absence of legislation to
grant the P3,000, Tinio said the government can grant a P2,000
monthly allowance to all government employees.
ACT challenged candidates running
in the May 2007 polls to take a stand on the issue of wages and
salaries.
“Do you support our demand for
a P3,000 salary increase? Do you support the private-sector
workers’ demand for a P125 wage increase? Obviously, teachers and
other government employees will have no love for candidates who
don’t support our demand for decent salaries,” he said.
Teachers will gather at Plaza
Miranda in Quiapo at 2 p.m. on February 14, the starting point of
their march to Malacañang.
“For Valentine’s Day, we’ll
give President Arroyo black hearts to symbolize the cruel and
inhuman suffering that her government has inflicted on public-sector
employees through its long-standing wage freeze policy,” Tinio
said.
In a related development,
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus and Chairman Benjamin Abalos of the
Commission on Elections reached an agreement on the remuneration
teachers will receive for serving in the May election.
Based on the agreement, teachers
who will serve as members of the board of election inspectors will
each receive P3,000 regardless of the duration of their
participation in the polls. Teachers will get 50 percent of the
amount upon collection of election paraphernalia and the other half
upon submission of the election returns to the city or municipal
treasurer. Teachers will also receive P300 transportation allowance.
About 450,000 public-school
teachers are expected to serve on election day. DepEd
superintendents and supervisors who will serve as members of the
board of canvassers in the provincial, city and municipal levels
shall be given an honorarium between P3,000 and P10,000.
Also, a utility person will be
assigned for every 10 precincts to provide support services such as
cleaning the polling places and doing errands for the election
inspectors and teachers will be paid P1,500.
Lapus said he was also able to
secure the approval in principle of the Comelec to allow the
possible participation of the Philippine Association of Law Schools
in providing legal or paralegal services for the teachers.
“We can now officially pursue
with the association the feasibility of the law schools’
involvement, subject to the approval of the Comelec,” he said.
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