Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite has warned against possible wage distortion in government service if salary hikes are exclusively granted public school teachers, instead of all civil service workers.
Gaite, who used to head one of the biggest government employees’ groups in the country, said adjustment in salaries of State workers should be applied to all, instead of limiting such benefit to school teachers.
Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (CDP, Cagayan de Oro City) shared the same view as he batted for an across-the-board salary adjustment to help government employees counteract the effects of rising cost of living.
“I would prefer salary increases for all government workers. However, if government does not have enough money, we can start adjusting pay for teachers and nurses,” said Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Reform.
The stand of the two lawmakers is supported by a recent Pulse Asia survey that indicated that 77 percent of Filipinos aged 18-years-old and above are in favor of full coverage of salary adjustments to all workers in the public sector.
In its June 24 to 30 survey, Pulse Asia disclosed that respondents from the National Capital Region, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao want all government employees be included in the next round of salary standardization.
Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones’ stand on the issue appeared to have also been backed by the Pulse Asia survey.
“It shows that while DepEd is recognized as the biggest bureaucracy in the country with a vital function, it is still part of an entire government system with functions that are economically interdependent of each other. There are nurses, engineers, and other professionals who also play important roles in the delivery of quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education for the Filipino learners,” said Briones.
The proposed hike for all government workers was raised during the DepEd budget briefing before the House Committee on Appropriations the other day.
Only 17 percent of the respondents were of the opinion that it should cover only teachers, a negligible three percent disagreed with the salary increase, and another three percent answered they “don’t know.”
Since she assumed office in 2016, the Education chief has committed to seek ways to uplift the social and economic status of the department’s teaching and non-teaching personnel and to improve their working conditions and terms of employment. (Ben R. Rosario)
