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

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SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS BY: /
First Regular Session | yr

BILLS AND INDEX SERVICE

56°

HOUSE BILLNo.

Introduced by ACT Teachers Party-List
Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO and Rep. FRANCISCA L. CASTRO,
Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. EIMMI A. DE JESUS,
BAYAN MUNA Party-List Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE,
Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,
ANAKPAWIS Party-List Rep. ARIEL B. CASILAO,
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. SARAH JANE L. ELAGO

AN ACT
INCREASING THE MINIMUM SALARIES OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS °
AND OTHER GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
AND AUGMENTING THE PERSONNEL ECONOMIC RELIEF ALLOWANCE

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill aims to increase the minimum monthly salaries of public school
teachers and all other government employees. It also aims to increase the
Personnel Economic Relief Allowance granted to all government employees to
P5,000.

The enactment of this proposal is urgent despite the issuance of Executive
Order 201, series of 2016, or the latest adjustment to the Salary Standardization
Law. The paltry salary increases it provides to lower- and middle-level
government employees are insufficient to provide a decent standard of living for
their families. For instance, entry-level (Salary Grade 1) positions in government,


such as for Clerk and Utility Worker, have been given an increase of P2,068 (from
9,000 to P11,068), spread out in equal tranches over the next four years. This is
equivalent to a monthly salary increase of P517, or a mere P23.50 per day.

Teachers and nurses, who share an entry-level position of Salary Grade 11,
have been given an increase of P2,205 monthly (from P18,549 to P20,754),
likewise spread out over four years. This means a monthly increase of P551.25, or
a mere P25.05 per day. Rank-and-file police, soldiers, and other uniformed
personnel are given mere provisional allowances of P1,457 after four years (an
average of P364.25 per year) to augment their finances by P16.56 per day.

Therefore, the latest adjustment to the Salary Standardization Law has
failed to fulfill the long-standing aspiration of rank-and-file personnel—who
comprise the vast majority of the government bureaucracy—for decent salaries
that will afford them a humane standard of living.

As for teachers and non-teaching employees in both basic and higher
education in particular, government also still owes an unfulfilled mandate. The
1987 Philippine Constitution mandates the State to “assign the highest budgetary
priority to education and 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” (Article XIV, Section 5 (5)). In addition,
Republic Act No. 4670, or The Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, states that
salaries of public school teachers “shall compare favorably with those pai! in
occupations requiring equivalent or similar qualifications, training and abilities,”
that “they shall be such as to insure teachers a reasonable standard of life for
themselves and their families” (Section 15 (a) and (b)).

Another proposal to the end that government will fulfill these mandates is
to increase the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA). This benefit was
first granted to government employees in 1991, in the amount of P500 per
month. Joint Resolution 4, issued by the House of Representatives and the Senate
on 17 June 2009, mandated that the P1,500 Additional Compensation and the
P500 PERA, with a combined total of P2,000, shall thenceforth be collectively
referred to as PERA.

An increase in the PERA will offer government personnel more substantial
relief from erosion of purchasing power of public sector salaries and wages. For
this purpose, this bill proposes that the PERA be increased to P5,000.


For the above-cited reasons, approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

Ege val

Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO Rep, FRANC! L. CASTRO

ACT Teachers Party-List (CT Teachérs Party-List
Rep. EMMI A. DE JESUS Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE
Gabriela Women’s Party BAYAN MUNA Party-List
Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS pe CASILAO,
Gabriela Women’s Party ANAKPAWIS Party-List

Rep. SARAH JANE L. ELAGO
KABATAAN Party-List


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

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 56

Introduced by ACT Teachers Party-List
Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO and Rep. FRANCISCA L. CASTRO, Gabriela Women’s Party
Rep. EMMI A. DE JESUS, BAYAN MUNA Party-List Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE,
Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS, ANAKPAWIS Party-List Rep.
ARIEL B. CASILAO, and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. SARAH JANE L. ELAGO

AN ACT
INCREASING THE MINIMUM SALARIES OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS AND OTHER
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND AUGMENTING THE PERSONNEL ECONOMIC RELIEF
ALLOWANCE

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

SECTION 1. Reiteration 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 humane
conditions of work and a living wage.


SECTION 2. Raising of the minimum salaries of regular employees in government.
The present salary of a regular entry-level position in government service shall not be
less than Sixteen Thousand Pesos (P16,000) a month. The salaries of those occupying
higher positions shall be adjusted accordingly.

SECTION 3. Raising of the Minimum Salaries of Public School Teachers in Basic
Education. ~ The present entry level salary of public school teachers shall not be less
than Twenty Five Thousand Pesos (P25,000) a month. The salaries of those occupying
higher positions shall be adjusted accordingly.

SECTION 4. Raising of the Minimum Salary Grade Level of Higher Education
Teaching Personnel. ~ The present entry level salary of teaching personnel in state
and local universities and colleges shall not be less than Twenty Seven Thousand
Pesos (P27,000) a month. The salaries of all other teaching personnel occupying
higher positions shall be adjusted accordingly.

SECTION 5. Augmentation of the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance. — The
Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) is hereby increased from the present
Two Thousand Pesos (P2,000) a month to Five Thousand Pesos (P5,000) a month.
The PERA shall henceforth be referred to as the Augmented Personnel Economic
Relief Allowance (APERA).

SECTION 6. Rules and Regulations. — The Department of Education, the Commission
on Higher Education, and the Department of Budget and Management shall
promulgate the necessary rules and regulations of the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 7. Appropriations. ~ The initial funding required for the implementation of
this Act shall be sourced from the savings of the Executive branch of the government
and other possible sources that may be determined by the Office of the President
Funds needed in subsequent years shall be included in the General Appropriations
Act.

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

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

SECTION 10. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or one (1) newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,