Education entrepreneur and review center mogul Dr. Carl E. Balita has added his voice to the growing national conversation on the financial struggles of Filipino public school teachers, calling for a salary increase as the root solution to a debt problem that has long plagued the profession.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, April 14, Balita — himself a licensed teacher, registered nurse, and registered midwife — said the issue goes beyond educators.
“Teachers BAON sa UTANG? Hindi lang TEACHERS. MADAMING FILIPINO. Kasi SOBRANG BABA NAMAN NG SWELDO NILA (kumpara sa maraming bansa). Alangan naman mag sideline pa sila eh lubog na din sa TRABAHO. RAISE SALARY OF TEACHERS,” he wrote.
[Teachers drowning in debt? It’s not just teachers. Many Filipinos are. Because their salaries are just too low compared to many other countries. They can’t even take on sideline jobs because they’re already buried in work. Raise the salary of teachers.]
His post came days after Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS) aired a segment on April 12 featuring a group of public school teachers who reached out to the program in desperation, with some reporting that after loan deductions, their ATM accounts show a zero balance — with salaries, bonuses, and benefits completely wiped out.
Among those featured was a teacher named Christina, who borrowed P130,000 in 2024 to cover her husband’s medical expenses. The amount ballooned to P350,000 due to interest and penalties, and her account was eventually garnished. “Ngayon po, na-garnish po ang aking account. So wala po ako nakukuhang sahod kahit piso,” she said. Another teacher, Mayse from Dasmariñas, Cavite, took out a P195,000 loan in 2018 at a 3.5% monthly interest rate but only received P18,000 in cash — the rest used to settle previous debts. Her total obligation eventually reached P418,000, including P42,000 in legal fees.
The debt problem among public school teachers is not new and runs deep. According to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), around 75% of the country’s approximately 800,000 public school teachers are in debt, with total obligations estimated at P319 billion — owed to both government financial institutions and private lenders.
Balita’s position echoes that of ACT Philippines, which in February 2026 warned that simply extending loan terms — as DepEd had proposed through a letter to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas — would only deepen the debt burden without addressing the core problem of inadequate pay.
Research bears out the concern. A 2025 academic study published in the International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science found that Filipino teachers earn an average annual salary of around $18,160 — well below the ASEAN average, and a fraction of the $55,725 to $63,925 range earned by teachers in OECD countries with 15 years of experience. The study also noted that teachers in the lowest salary grades are most vulnerable, often resorting to loan sharks and private lenders to cover basic needs and family obligations.
DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Atty. Edson Byron Sy, also interviewed by KMJS, said the department’s Automatic Payroll Deduction System accredits private lenders and caps interest rates between 7.5% and 9.6%. He acknowledged, however, that many of the worst-affected teachers had borrowed from non-accredited lenders outside DepEd’s oversight, and said the agency is exploring loan consolidation through GSIS as a possible remedy.
Balita, who founded the Dr. Carl E. Balita Review Center (CBRC) in 2004 — now the largest and only ISO-certified review center in the Philippines with 200 branches — has long been an advocate for the teaching profession. CBRC’s flagship program is its Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) review, which has produced thousands of board passers and topnotchers nationwide. He ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2022 on a platform centered on health, livelihood, and education.
The teachers featured on KMJS said they are not evading their obligations — only asking for fair terms. “Hindi po namin tinatakbuhan. Ang amin lang Ma’am, bigyan naman po nila kami kasi wala na nga po silang tinira sa amin,” one teacher said. Many continue reporting for work despite receiving nothing. “Pumapasok po kami nang wala kaming sahod,” Christina said.
