THE ALLIANCE  of Concerned Teachers called for the immediate passage of House Bill 9922 or the Inflation Adjustment Allowance bill filed by the Makabayan Bloc at the House of Representatives that seeks to provide P3,000 per month to government workers regardless of their employment status.

The group pressed its call a week after the Department of Trade and Industry said that prices of basic goods could go up and in light of the imposition of Enhanced Community Quarantine in the National Capital Region.

It said that the lockdown will adversely affect at least 167,000 workers.

“This is the third ECQ implemented by the Duterte administration in the NCR since the pandemic started last year, but public sector workers have yet to receive any help from the government. Our salaries are steadily eroded by rising costs of goods while we serve at frontlines of delivering essential government services to our crises-hit people,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

The group claimed that public school teachers and education support personnel have not received financial aid from the government amid the crises.

Education workers in the public sector were also not included as beneficiaries in previous monetary aids provided by the government, it added.

“Education workers are not spared from the effects of the pandemic and the economic crisis. We are part of the millions of impoverished Filipinos who have been struggling to survive even before the pandemic, eh di lalo na ngayong ganito katindi ang krisis. Kaysa luwag at ginhawa ay dagdag na pasakit lang ang hatid ng rehimeng ito sa amin,” Basilio said.

He lamented that teachers’ workload and out-of-pocket expenses grew exponentially with the implementation of distance learning.

“Our teachers have not yet recovered from the burdensome expenses of the government’s failed distance learning program, and from the fatigue caused by the overwhelming workload and non-stop work in the previous school year, yet here we are again, having to worry over surviving another lockdown with our meagre salaries. Nasaan ang tulong mula sa gobyerno? Nasaan ang sapat na ayuda?” Basilio asked.

The group urged Congress to urgently pass House Bill 9922, as well as House Bill 5990 that will upgrade the minimum salary of teachers to salary grade 15 and college instructors to SG 16, and provide salary grade 1 government employees an entry-level pay of P16,000 a month.