THE nation’s teaches have been in the news lately, with Secretary of Education Leonor Briones appealing last week against a move to tax the honoraria paid to public school teachers doing election work on Monday, May 14. These should even be increased, she said.
Under the Election Service Act, RA 10756, teachers who serve as members of election boards receive P5,000, with the board chairman receiving P6,000. The supervisor of the Department of Education also receives P4,000 and support staff, P2,000. All would be given transportation allowance of P1,000.
For the coming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on May 14, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) intends to impose a 5 percent withholding tax on the honoraria and transportation allowances. No tax has ever been imposed before on these amounts paid to teachers for election day work, Secretary Briones pointed out. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers added that the R1,000 transportation allowance is not even enough for the teachers who have to travel several times between the voting precincts and the Comelec offices where they get and later store the poll paraphernalia.
In the same week, President Duterte turned his attention to the nation’s teachers. Teachers will be the next group to receive salary increases, he said – only not double their previous pay as was the case of soldiers and policemen. The President acknowledged reports that many needy teachers have even taken to using their ATM cards as collateral for loans.
There is already a bill in the Senate authored by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, to raise the pay of teachers who, he pointed out, are “among the most underpaid workers, given their workload and role in society…. Kung mayroong karapat-dapat na taasan ang sahod, sila ang ating mga guro.” Angara’s bill would upgrade the minimum salary level of teachers from Salary Grade 11 to 19. This would double their monthly base pay from R20,179 to R42,099.
This is all very good news for our teachers whose role in the national life cannot be overemphasized. An increase in their salaries will attract more qualified and competent educators to teach in public schools, to mold the coming generations of Filipinos, Senator Angara said.
This move in the Senate may take some time as it is bound to involve a host of other budgetary issues which the national government is now facing. For the meantime, we just hope the government will focus on the immediate issue of remuneration for teachers doing election duty on Monday, May 14. The appeal for increases in Comelec payments may not be possible at such short notice, but the appeal for exemption from 5 percent tax should be given the highest possible consideration.
