Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Batasan Hills, Quezon City

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 203

Introduced by
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO,
GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL

AN ACT
UPGRADING THE SALARY LEVELS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS TO.
SALARY GRADE 15 AND TEACHING PERSONNEL IN HIGHER
EDUCATION TO SALARY GRADE 16, AND INCREASING THE SALARIES
OF NON-TEACHING PERSONNEL TO P16,000

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Salary Standardization Law was amended in 2020 but the struggle of
public school teachers, faculty in state and local universities and colleges, and
education sector personnel for salaries that can afford decent lives for them and their
families is far from over.

This latest adjustment, via Republic Act 11466, by no means addressed the
disparity between the salaries of those in the low- and middle-level salary
grades—who comprise majority of the civil service—and those in the managerial
levels and especially of top officials. As always, the rank-and-file are at the losing
end in this set-up. As one goes lower in salary grade—clerks, administrative aides,
down to the janitorial positions—the poorer he or she gets. Those who need
additional finances most are given mere loose change—for one in Salary Grade 1, an
average of P483 annual increase, to be exact. On the other hand, top officials like
those in SG 31 and SG 33 including members of the cabinet and of Congress and the
President are given annual increases of more than P5,000 up to P7,762.

Even after the last tranche of SSL 5 in 2023, the frontliners in education will
still be no better off than the police and soldiers in uniform, whose salaries the Duterte
administration increased by 50% to 100%. Teachers are given increases of a little


over P6,000 spread across four years, or about P1,500 annually. Teachers might not
bear arms, but they are professionals with qualifications higher than police and
soldiers. Teachers cannot enter and remain in the service without the training and
fortitude required of the daily and myriad battles in public education—And it must
never be alleged that their qualifications, training, and fortitude are less than those of
the police and the military.

These measly increases will be quickly eaten away by excise taxes and
inflation—especially those brought by the TRAIN Law. For mid-level personnel like
teachers, income taxes will further reduce their take-home pay, as their salaries will go
past the P250,000-cap for exempt incomes. The salaries of majority in the civilian
bureaucracy remain insufficient for a family living wage of P1,119 per day or P33,570
per month for a family of six to have a decent and humane condition of living. The
disparity between the salary and the family living wage continues to widen, as
inflation steadily rises without corresponding timely increases in salaries.

At present, the dire financial woes of low- to mid-level employees only
worsened mere two years after RA 11466, considering the COVID-19 pandemic and
several slaps of increases in the prices of fuel and basic commodities. Indeed, how far
can P25,439 take a Teacher I and his or her family at a time when fuel prices—rising
weekly—are nearing P100 per liter? Until when can the humble janitor stretch his or
her base monthly pay of P12,517? (Their net salaries are in fact much lower.)

Hence, this bill proposes substantial salary increases through salary upgrading
for teachers and education sector personnel to close the gap between their salaries and
the cost of living. It will also address the distortion created by the doubling of
entry-level pay of military and uniformed personnel. It also proposes the annual
adjustment of salaries to ensure that these keep pace with the cost of living. This bill
mandates the Department of Budget and Management, in consultation with public
sector unions, to recommend to Congress the appropriation of the necessary funds.

Furthermore, the need for Salary Grade 15 for entry-level public school
teachers is highlighted with the recent Supreme Court decision which upheld Salary
Grade 15 for public nurses and ordered the funding of their victory, one
unacknowledged by government since 2002. Government nurses and public school
teachers possess comparable qualifications, training, and duties—both being frontline
employees in the delivery of basic health and education services—and our laws such
as the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act 4670) mandate that
their salaries must also be comparable.

This bill parallels the demand of the rest of those dutifully toiling in the civilian
bureaucracy for substantial salary increases and for a national minimum salary of
P16,000, as well as the demand of workers in the private sector for a national
minimum daily wage.


Heeding the demand for substantial salary increases promotes and protects the
rights of the majority of our frontliners in education to decent lives, to be fully
compensated for their hard work, and to a just return of the taxes they are faithfully
paying. It is a matter of justice, one that must be granted at the soonest possible time
for teachers and non-teaching personnel

The fourth tranche of SSL 5 will take effect next year, in 2023, and teachers
and other employees in the education sector, fear that this final adjustment will follow
the trend of past adjustments of giving paltry increases to those in the rank-and-file,
thus further distorting the salary scales to their disadvantage. Before this happens,
there exists the urgent—and yet unmet—need to immediately correct the distortion.

For these reasons, immediate approval of this bill is sought.

Ref. ARLBNE D. BROSAS Rep. RAOUL DANIEL A. MANUEL
GABRIELA Women’s Party KABATAAN Party-List


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Batasan Hills, Quezon City

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 203

Introduced by
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO,
GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL

AN ACT
UPGRADING THE SALARY LEVELS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS
TO SALARY GRADE 15 AND TEACHING PERSONNEL IN HIGHER
EDUCATION TO SALARY GRADE 16, AND INCREASING THE SALARIES
OF NON-TEACHING PERSONNEL TO P16,000

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Declaration of Policy. It is hereby declared the policy of the State to
alleviate the living conditions of government employees and to guarantee employees’
rights to living wage.

The State policies of ensuring that education receives the highest budgetary
priority and 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 are hereby reiterated.

In the formulation of decisions with regard to education reforms, the State shall
likewise hold paramount the protection and promotion of the right of citizens to
quality education at all levels and the rights of education workers to human conditions
of work and a living wage.

SEC. 2. Upgrading of the Salary Levels of Public School Teachers in Basic
Education. The present minimum salary grade level of public school teachers shall be
upgraded from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15. Salary grade levels of those
occupying higher positions shall be adjusted accordingly.


SEC. 3. Upgrading of the Salary Levels of Public Teaching Personnel in Higher
Education. The present minimum salary grade level of teaching personnel or
instructors in public universities and colleges shall be upgraded from Salary Grade 12
to Salary Grade 16, Salary grade levels of all other teaching personnel occupying
higher positions shall be adjusted accordingly.

SEC. 4. Raising of the Minimum Salaries of Regular Employees in Public
Elementary and High Schools. The present salary of a regular entry-level position in
public elementary and high schools shall not be less than Sixteen Thousand Pesos
(P16,000) a month. The salaries af those occupying higher positions shall be adjusted
accordingly.

SEC. 5. Annual Adjustment of Salaries. Salaries of public school teachers and
non-teaching personnel shall be adjusted annually to keep pace with the cost of living.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), in consultation with public
sector unions, shall recommend to Congress the appropriation of the necessary funds.

SEC. 6. Rules and Regulations. |The Department of Education, the Commission on
Higher Education, and the DBM shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations
of the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 7. Appropriations, The amount necessary for the initial implementation of this
Act shall be taken from current appropriations. Thereafter, funds needed in
subsequent years shall be included in the General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 8. Separability Clause. Should any provision herein be declared
unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity of the other provisions of this
Act.

SEC. 9. Repealing Clause. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or other
issuances or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby
repealed.

SEC. 10. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication
in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,