A proposal to raise the minimum monthly salary of public school teachers to ₱50,000 has been refiled at the House of Representatives, as calls mount to ensure educators earn enough for a decent living.
Filed on June 30 by ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co, House Bill 203 seeks to address the long-standing pay disparity faced by teachers, particularly those in Salary Grade 11 positions earning just over ₱30,000 a month.
Despite recent amendments to the Salary Standardization Law in 2020 and 2024, Tinio and Co emphasized that current pay levels still fall far short of the family living wage, which is pegged at over ₱1,200 per day. Based on their estimates, more than 800,000 teachers nationwide in Teacher I to III ranks remain among the most underpaid frontliners in public service.
The lawmakers also pointed out the glaring inequality when compared to the salary increases granted to military and uniformed personnel during the Duterte administration. While police and soldiers saw their salaries rise by 50 to 100 percent, teachers received less than 6 percent in adjustments.
“It must be stressed that this level of pay of the main frontliners of education… amounts to less than the family living wage,” the explanatory note read, warning that this has led many teachers to seek better-paying jobs abroad.
By raising the minimum salary to ₱50,000, the bill aims to bridge the gap between teachers’ earnings and the real cost of living, while correcting what the authors described as a structural imbalance in compensation across government sectors.
The lawmakers urged swift passage of the measure, stating, “It is a matter of justice, one that must be granted at the soonest possible time for public school teachers.”
