SENATOR Juan Edgardo Angara said on Monday that the newly enacted law increasing the teaching supply allowance for teachers will help reduce the burden on our educators and allow them to perform their duties better.

As one of the authors of the law, Angara thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for supporting the measure, which he said is highly anticipated by the country’s public school teachers.

“Increasing the teaching supplies allowance or the chalk allowance will result in fewer instances when teachers have to make out-of-pocket expenses in the performance of their duties. Our overworked and underpaid educators should always be supported and initiatives such as these will go a long way in showing our appreciation of what they do for our children’s development,” Angara said.

In the past five years as chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Angara saw to it that the country’s public school teachers always received their teaching supply allowance.

Under the 2020 General Appropriations Act, a total of P3.25 billion was allocated for the P3,500 teaching supply allowance for over 930,000 teachers.

From 2021 onwards, the teaching supply allowance was raised to P5,000 for each teacher, even before the institutionalization of the grant of these funds and even when there was no mandate to increase the amounts.

With the new law, the teaching supply allowance would go up to P10,000 annually for all public school teachers. This is not subject to income tax.

The amount would cover the purchase of tangible and intangible teaching supplies and materials, the payment of incidental expenses, and the implementation or conduct of various learning delivery modalities.

“Nakita natin na napakaliit talaga ng halaga na binibigay sa ating mga guro noong mga nakaraang mga taon. Sa loon ng isang dekada ay nasa P700 hanggang P3,500 lang ang chalk allowance kaya hindi na kataka-taka na kinakailangan pa lagi na mag abono ang mga guro para lang makabili ng mga kagamitan na kailangan nila sa pagturo,” Angara said.

“Sa bagong batas na pinirmahan ngayong araw ay mas makatarungan na ang halaga para sa teaching supplies allowance. Ito ay bahagi ng pagbibigay halaga natin sa mahalagang trabahong ginagampanan ng ating mga guro para sa ating mga anak,” the senator added.