THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers questioned the doubling of combat expenses for the military in the 2021 budget while teachers got a pitiful internet allowance.

The group again sought the grant of P1,500 monthly internet allowance, citing mounting distance learning expenses.

ACT lamented that teachers were given a measly P1,000 internet allowance for the entire year, incorporated in the cash allowance raised from P3,500 to P5,000 annually.

“Ano ba ang mas mahalaga, giyera o balik-eskwela? Butas na ang bulsa ng mga guro sa pag-aabono sa gastusin ng distance learning. It seems the Duterte regime has no intention whatsoever to address the worsening education crisis amid the pandemic,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said in a statement.

In the 2021 budget, the Armed Forces of the Philippines got a 100 percent raise in the combat expenses of soldiers, from P100,000 to P200,000 quarterly for each company. The AFP was also allotted an additional P5 billion for its modernization program.

The Department of Education, on the other hand, got a P11 billion budget slash. The allocation for its computerization program was decreased by P3 billion.

“The Duterte government has shown unfair partiality to uniformed personnel since he took office, doubling their salaries in 2018 and favoring them in terms of benefits and insurance while the salary increase promised to teachers remained unfulfilled. It is purely devoid of reason for the president to take this bias to another level with the doubling of their war allowance when we are deep in health, economic and education crisis,” Basilio said.

Teachers, he added, are suffering from “grave financial hardships” because their meager salaries can no longer sustain distance learning expenses.

He urged the government to allot a supplemental budget for education workers.

“Hindi na alam ng mga guro kung paano pa itatawid ang mga susunod na buwan na kailangan nilang bumili ng load, magbayad ng bills at buhayin ang kanilang pamilya habang wala namang sapat na suporta ang pamahalaan. Gusto nating ipaalala sa ating gobyerno na hindi mga bala at mga baril ang lulutas sa krisis natin sa edukasyon o ang bubusog sa kumakalam na sikmura ng mga mamamayan,” Basilio said.