Public school teachers will be marching in the streets as schools reopen on Monday, June 1, to condemn the impending passage of the so-called “Salary Standardization Law 3” (SSL 3), which seeks to grant pay hikes to public sector employees over the next four years.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers will lead 500 public school teachers in a march to the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 1.

“In the past few days, the House and Senate have approved their respective versions of the new salary law for government employees,” said ACT national chairperson Antonio Tinio. “Unfortunately, they are unacceptable to teachers and our colleagues in the public sector.”

ACT criticized Congress for granting inadequate pay increases to public school teachers. “The bills provide a Php 6,500 increase to teachers over the next four years,” said Tinio. “Spread out over four years, this will translate to a mere P1,625 monthly increase per year. This is substantially less than our demand for a Php 9,000 hike over the next 3 three years.”

He added that the legislation approved by both houses also failed to address distortions in the government’s standardized pay scale that placed teachers at a disadvantage. These distortions were worsened when the Arroyo administration upgraded the salaries of military personnel in 2002. “An army private currently receives a higher total monthly compensation than a public school teacher. A cadet in the Philippine Military Academy receives the same basic pay as an associate professor in one of our state universities and colleges. The SSL 3 will perpetuate this injustice to the teaching profession.”

ACT further criticized other features of SSL 3. “In solidarity with other public sector employees, we also condemn the failure of SSL 3 to upgrade government nurses to Salary Grade 15, failure to grant an immediate Php 3,000 increase to the lowest salary grades, and failure to grant equal increases in pay to local government employees compared to those in the national government.”

Tinio called on legislators from both chambers of Congress to introduce amendments to the legislation when the Bicameral Conference Committee meets to finalize the SSL 3.

ACT made the announcement at a press conference in Baguio Teachers’ Camp, where over 300 public school teachers from all over the country participated in a 3-day leadership training seminar conducted by ACT. #