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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Queson City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House BILL No.6879

Introduced by HON. LUIS RAYMUND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Education would not be able to steer this nation forward without the mentoring of
dedicated teachers working in the service of the Filipino youth. We are fortunate to
have committed people to perform a vital profession such as teaching—and especially
grateful for rural teachers and their tenacity to perform despite being in uncomfortable
situations.

Early this year, the Department of Education announced the release of budget for the
Special Hardship Allowance (SHA). The SHA is given to thousands of teachers to
cover the deficiency in compensation to teachers exposed to hardship or difficulty in
the place of work’, such as disadvantaged areas in rural provinces. This aimed to help
teachers in hardship posts and be more responsive to their needs.

The proposed bill aims to institutionalize the Special Hardship Allowance and be given
annually. This bill also proposes a computation of the pay depending on the grade or
learning level handled per teacher or the rate per distance traversed from the main
road to the community learning center the teacher is assigned to. It hopes to alleviate
our dedicated teachers from financial burden and compensate them for the hard work
that they do beyond their call of duty.

The approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

* https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/01/19/p977-million-special
2 http://www.deped. gov. ph/press-releases/deped-release-1



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

6879

HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by HON. LUIS RAYMUND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.

AN ACT
GRANTING SPECIAL HARDSHIP ALLOWANCE TO PUBLIC SCHOOL
TEACHERS, SCHOOL HEADS AND ADMINISTRATORS IN HARDSHIP POSTS

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

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Guro Para sa Bayan Act
of 2017”.

SECTION 2. Definition of Terms. — For purposes of this Act, the following definitions
shall apply to the following terms:

a. Special Hardship Allowance (SHA) — refers to the allowance granted to qualified
teachers and school heads or administrators, as provided in this Act;

b. Hardship Post (HP) — refers to public schools or community learning centers
located in areas characterized by extraordinarily hard, uncomfortable and
extreme difficulties, as provided in this Act;

c. Multi-Grade Teachers (MGT) — refer to public elementary school teachers
handling a class of two or more grades;

d. Mobile teachers — refer to specialized public school teachers conducting
learning sessions using the alternative learning delivery mode who usually
move from one station to another in depressed, disadvantaged and undeserved
communities;


e. Non-formal Education or Alternative Learning System Coordinators - refer to a
public school teacher who is officially designated by the SDS to perform non-
formal or ALS program coordinating functions in addition to his or her regular
duties as learning facilitator.

SECTION 3. Special Hardship Allowance (SHA). — There shall be granted a Special
Hardship Allowance to qualified teachers and school heads or administrators, as
provided in Section 5 of this Act, to be given annually.

The SHA given shall not exceed twenty five percent (25%) of the annual basic salary.
Fraction of an hour of qualified travel and ratios of days present to total class days
‘shall be reckoned to the nearest peso, provided that qualified travel of less than one-
third (1/3) of an hour or attendance ratio or less than one is to three (1:3) for the month
shall not be compensated.

SECTION 4. Rate of Special Hardship Allowance. — The allowable SHA shall be
computed as follows:

SHA = (Basic salary x rate per distance) x number of days present in a month over
number of working days in a month; wherein rate per distance is shown hereunder:

Rate per distance
Distance
(% of basic salary)
5-10 km 15%
11-20 km 20%
21 km and above 25%

a. For multi-grade teachers, the SHA shall be paid as follows:

Grade classes handled ‘% of basic salary
2 grades 15%
3 grades 20%
4 or more grades 25%



b. For mobile teachers and non-formal education or ALS coordinators, the SHA
‘shall be paid as follows:

Learning levels handled % of basic salary
1 learning level 15%
2 different learning levels 20%

3 or more different learning
25%
levels

Wherein, the learning levels refer to:

a. Basic Literacy;

b. Elementary Level;

c. Secondary Level;

d. Special Projects, i.e. income-generating projects, projects involving
hearing-impaired, or informal education for parents or indigenous
people

SECTION 5. Qualifications for grant of Special Hardship Allowance. — The
qualified teachers may either be resident or transient having regular or temporary

appointment and must be under any of the following situations:

Rona

. Being assigned to a hardship post;

. Performing multi-grade teaching;

}. Carrying out mobile teaching functions; or

. Performing functions of non-formal education or Alternative Learning

System (ALS) coordinators.

Priority shall be given to classroom teachers in elementary and secondary levels and
to school heads or administrators exposed to hardship or extreme difficulty in a place
of work in any of the following conditions:

a.

Transport Inaccessibility:


i. Accessible only by hiking, animal ride, banca ride, or other
unusual/irregular means of transportation, partly or wholly from
the nearest point of available regular motorized land/water
transport (minimum distance of 5 kilometers).

b. Difficulty of Situation:
i, Place declared calamitous by the President based on National
Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) recommendation;
ii. Involves hazards to life, including exposures to armed conflict to
be determined by the Schools Division Superintendent (SDS); or
iii. Inconvenience of travel due to dangerous terrain, isolation and
extreme weather condition to be determined by the SDS.

SECTION 6. Appropriations. — To effectively carry-out the grant of the SHA provided
herein, the amount necessary for this purpose shall be sourced from the following:
a. Allotment under the regional budget of the Department of Education (DepEd)
‘specifically provided for this purpose in the annual General Appropriations Act;
b. Savings of the school/schools division office and DepEd Regional Office
concerned for the current year in case of funding deficiency; and
c. Overall savings of DepEd for the current year in case of further funding
deficiency.

SECTION 7. Tax Exemption on SHA. — No tax of any kind shall be levied on the
Special Hardship Allowance herein granted to qualified personnel, as provided.

SECTION 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. ~ The Department of Education
and the Department of Budget and Management shall promulgate the necessary rules
and regulations for the implementation of this Act within thirty (30) days from its
effectivity.

Section 9. Separability Clause. — If any part or provision of this Act is declared invalid
or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected thereby shall remain in force and
effect.


Section 10. Repealing Clause. — Executive Order 139, series of 1993 and all laws,
decrees, executive orders and other administrative issuances and parts thereof, which

are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, is hereby amended, repealed or
modified accordingly.

Section 11. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,