ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro urged Congress to pass bills that will provide teachers and other government workers decent salaries.

The lawmaker said that amid the record-high inflation rate, government employees, especially teachers, are in dire need of a salary increase.

“Most government employees, including 92% of teachers still fall below the family living wage even with the 4th and last tranche of Salary Standardization Law V,” Castro said.

“This only shows the urgent need for Congress and the Marcos Jr. administration to prioritize legislating a salary increase for all government employees that would provide them with decent salary increases that are not below the family living wage,” she added.

The current family living wage is P1,133 per day according to the IBON Foundation.

The lawmaker stressed the need to increase the minimum salaries of entry-level government employees to P33,000 per month.

“We urge the Marcos Jr. administration to certify wage and salary bills in Congress as urgent. It should make concrete steps that will immediately benefit the people,” Castro said.

“We filed House Bill 6560 establishing the national minimum monthly salary in government. We also filed House Bill 203 upgrading the salary grade of public school teachers from salary grade 11 to salary grade 15,” she added. “It is only a matter of prioritization from the Marcos Jr. administration to make adequate and decent salary increases for government employees a reality.”