JUST like the military and police personnel, the teachers want a 100 percent increase of salary, pointing out that a Teacher 1 should also fairly and squarely receive a Police Officer 1's monthly base pay worth P29,668.

This was the Alliance of Concerned Teachers' (ACT) call during the protest they staged Friday in front of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) office along Bulua national highway in Cagayan de Oro.

Ophelia Tabacon, president of ACT-Northern Mindanao, said ACT will initiate a signature campaign that will be passed to all teachers across the region to demand for an increase this year.

Tabacon said teachers cannot understand why the government prioritizes state forces, when teachers are equally important.

"Gusto man sila sa Build, Build, Build kay makakwarta man sila, whereas kung sa pagtaas sa teachers na sweldo dili man sila maka-kwarta," she said.

Tabacon and a handful of teachers yesterday call for the resignation of DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno if he cannot find ways to increase the teachers' wage.

They also urged Education Secretary Leonor Briones to resign for keeping mum on Diokno's remark that teachers are not a priority.

The teachers called Diokno and Briones as a `nightmare tandem’.

"The DBM Secretary is very inconsiderate and harsh even branding the increase clamor as too ambitious, this hurt us," the ACT statement said.

"Diokno should just follow the President's orders, find ways, rather than to react to the President's statements," she added.

Tabacon said teachers will continue to stage protests until their demands will be heard.