A BILL has been filed seeking to increase the annual World Teacher’s Day Incentive Benefit (WTDIB) payable to every public school teacher employed by the Department of Education.
Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. has filed House Bill 7840 which should bump up the WTDIB from P1,000 to P3,000.
Teachers receive this incentive every Oct. 5 in celebration of the annual World Teachers’ Day. The WTDIB pays tribute to those engaged in the teaching profession.
“Our bill merely seeks to augment the value of the WTDIB and make permanent via legislation the grant of the incentive benefit,” said Campos, who serves as committee vice chairman for House Appropriations.
Campos invoked the mandate of the 1987 Constitution for the State “to ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.”
Public school teachers first enjoyed the WTDIB four years ago, when Congress inserted the incentive benefit as an item in the 2019 national budget with initial funding of P800 million.
This year, the incentive benefit has funding of P900 million in the 2023 General Appropriations Law.
Congress has provided an aggregate of P4.4 billion in funding for the WTDIB since 2019, according to Campos.