ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio on Thursday criticized the Marcos administration for failing to allocate funds for teachers’ overtime and overload pay in the proposed 2025 Department of Education  budget, despite the President’s public promise to provide such compensation.

During budget deliberations, Tinio recalled President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address earlier this year, where he assured educators: “At ngayong school year na ito, makatatanggap na kayo ng kabayaran para sa inyong teaching overload at para sa inyong overtime.”

“No less than the President promised and boasted that teachers would finally be paid for overtime and overload. But the question is—where is the funding? The reality is, there is none,” Tinio said.

According to him, Education Secretary Sonny Angara admitted that the ₱4.88 billion needed to cover overtime pay for 967,960 teachers remains only part of DepEd’s “wishlist.”

While lump-sum allocations for personnel benefits exist in the Miscellaneous and Personnel Benefits Fund, overtime pay for teachers is not guaranteed since it must compete with the needs of other agencies.

Tinio also flagged the delayed implementation of the 2020 DepEd-Professional Regulation Commission agreement on teacher accreditation, saying educators continue to sign IOUs to meet license renewal requirements despite the policy.

He further pressed DepEd officials on the release of the long-overdue Performance-Based Bonus for teachers.

“What teachers want to know is, when will this be released?” he asked.

“Teachers deserve immediate action on these long-overdue benefits and commitments,” Tinio stressed.

“Presidential promises without proper funding are empty gestures that only add to the frustration of our already overburdened educators,” he added.