THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers National Capital Region Union urged lawmakers to act swiftly on the 21 pending bills that seek to increase the salary of teachers.

“We hope to communicate to our lawmakers the urgency of raising teachers’ salaries given the continually high inflation and more hikes in electricity, water and transportation costs in the offing,” Ruby Bernardo, the group’s president, said.

“Kailangang umusad na ang mga panukalang batas na ito dahil matatapos na ngayong taon ang mga baryang umento sa ilalim ng Salary Standardization Law V at wala kaming kalaban-laban sa patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin at serbisyo,” she added.

She said that public school teachers who occupy Teacher I positions receive P27,000 monthly salary, far from the estimated monthly living wage of P34,830, based on the computations of IBON Foundation.

Bernardo added that about 52 percent of the public school teachers population or almost 500,000 occupy teacher 1 positions while 40 percent are in the teacher 2 and 3 levels, receiving P29,000 to P33,000.

“This significant discrepancy between incomes and expenses burdens our teachers and affects our job performance and overall well-being. The unresponsiveness of the current administration to the teachers’ demand for pay hike while our workload continues to mount is affecting our morale and our capacity to deliver quality education,” Bernardo said.

“Mag-iisang taon nang nakapila sa mga komite ng Mababang Kapulungan ang mga panukalang batas para sa pagtataas ng aming sahod pero bakit hindi inaaksyunan ang mga ito? Sa halip na charter change, Maharlika Wealth Fund at girian sa posisyon, sana ay unahin nila ang mga hakbangin na magbibigay luwag sa mamamayan,” she added.