By Rep. Antonio Tinio
ACT Teachers Party-list
For years, teachers — whether in private schools or in state universities and colleges (SUCs) — have been told to accept poverty pay as ‘normal.’
House Bill 8968 and House Bill 8969 assert a simple principle: teachers deserve a decent and dignified basic salary, and P50,000 should be the floor.
Hindi dapat itinuturing na normal ang sahod na hindi nakabubuhay. Isinusulong ng mga panukalang ito ang mensahe na may karapatan ang guro sa disenteng kabuhayan — P50,000 ang minimum.
These measures build upon the momentum established on the very first day of the 20th Congress, when we filed the landmark proposal to raise the entry-level salary of public school teachers to P50,000. By expanding this call to the private sector and higher education, we aim to create a unified, livable standard for all Filipino educators.
It can be recalled that on the first day of the 20th Congress last year, we already filed the proposed P50,000 entry-level salary for our public school teachers. With these new bills, we are expanding that vision to ensure that no educator is left behind in our fight for a livable wage.
HB 8968 seeks to correct the severe undervaluation of private school teachers, particularly outside the National Capital Region, where many remain underpaid despite being licensed professionals.
Private school teachers are often invoked as the excuse to suppress public school teacher wages — yet private school teachers themselves are also underpaid and exploited. Raising their minimum salary to P50,000 is both a justice issue and a quality education issue.
Hindi dapat nakadepende sa tuition hike ang karapatan ng guro sa makatarungang sahod. Obligasyon ng pribadong paaralan bilang employer ang disenteng pasahod, hindi ipapasan sa mga magulang at estudyante.
HB 8969 addresses persistent salary gaps and the inability of public higher education institutions to attract and retain qualified instructors and professors due to low entry-level pay, heavy workload, and worsening cost of living.
An entry-level Instructor I in a public higher education institution currently receives around P33,947 a month. That is not commensurate to the work of educating our youth. We need a P50,000 minimum salary and corresponding adjustments for higher ranks.
We call on the House leadership to immediately refer the bills to the appropriate committees and fast-track hearings with teachers’ unions and education stakeholders.
Education is constantly praised in speeches, but teachers are shortchanged in budgets and pay structures. We are putting forward clear, doable standards — now Congress must act.
