Cayetano meets up with teachers' groups;
Vows to increase their salaries

Saying that there is a need to ease the burden and suffering of public school teachers, vice presidential candidate Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano wants to sufficiently increase their salaries.

In a solidarity meeting with the Ating Guro party-list and the Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC) in Taguig City on Saturday, Cayetano assured teachers that if elected, he and his running mate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will work towards sufficiently increasing the salaries of all teaching positions within three (3) years to allow the country's public educators to benefit from real economic growth.

It was reported that different teachers' groups rejected the government's proposal to grant educators with entry-level position an additional of P2, 205.00 from the present salary of P18, 549.00. The groups said the proposal is a meager increase of less than 12%, spread over a period of four years, making the annual increase of a little more than P500.00, the lowest in recent history.

"Sobra na ang gulo sa bansa kaya huwag na natin dagdagan pa ang pahirap ng tao lalo ng mga guro. Hindi dapat sila tinitipid. Imbes na ginhawa, dagdag gulo sa buhay ang binibigay ng gobyerno," Cayetano said.

Apart from hiking their basic salaries, Cayetano also wants to grant public educators P10,000 worth of additional compensation through his Senate Bill No. 94, which will be over and above the proposed Salary Standardization Law (SSL). This was warmly welcomed by different teachers' groups.

"Sen. Cayetano has been part of our campaign from the very start. At a time when teachers are losing hope, the senator's proposal re-energized our ranks," TDC Chairperson Benjo Basas said.

Basas, who is also the first nominee of Ang Guro Partylist, said he was happy that Cayetano took a firm stance in repairing the government's erroneous compensation scheme for teachers. He said past and present salary laws classified teachers as among the lowest paid government professionals.

"Through these bold solutions, we will make sure that our teachers, who are the backbone of our education system, are treated right. Under a Duterte-Cayetano leadership, everyone will have an opportunity to realize a better life," Cayetano ended.