SENATOR Jose ‘Jinggoy’ Estrada urged the government to increase the pay of teachers to prevent them from seeking employment abroad.

Estrada stressed the need to look into the salaries and benefits of public school teachers to ensure that these are commensurate with their workload.

“Pagtutuunan po natin ng pansin ‘yang pagtaas ng suweldo ng ating mga guro sa pampublikong paaralan dahil ang pagiging isang guro ay isang marangal na trabaho, ngunit talagang noong araw pa napakababa na ng kanilang tinatanggap na sahod, kaya talagang nakakaawa rin itong ating mga guro lalong-lalo na sila ‘yung naatasan na magbilang ng mga boto at kinakailangan talagang bigyan ng karagdagang sahod ang ating mga guro sa public schools,” the chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor said.

A salary increase is necessary to compensate for the additional workload brought about by the blended learning due to the Covid19 pandemic, Estrada added.

“Marami talaga ang mas pinili ang mag-abroad kahit na underemployed dahil mas malaki ang kita nila doon. In a 2019 data, ang basic salary ng Teacher 1 ay nasa P20,574, paano naman mapapagkasya ‘yan sa sunod-sunod na taas ng presyo ng mga pangunahing bilihin? Dagdag pa diyan ang hirap ng pandemic dahil sa online classes, gastos sa load para sa data or internet connection,” he said.

Estrada said a bill that seeks to increase the salary of teachers can be passed in Congress as long as the government can find the money for this purpose.

“It all boils down to funding. Basta  may budget madali, basta sesertipikahan ng National Treasury na may pera napakadali pong ipasa,” he said.