DepEd grants P1,000 cash benefit on World Teachers’ Day

MANILA, Philippines – Public school teachers will receive a P1,000 cash benefit from the Department of Education (DepEd) on October 5, World Teachers Day. (READ: Briones: I am not against salary increase for public school teachers)

According to DepEd Order No. 26, signed on Thursday, September 19, the benefit would be granted to all teachers who were in service as of September 30.

Those entitled to the benefit include “all persons engaged in classrom teaching, in any level of instruction, on full-time basis,” according to the order.

Guidance counselors, school librarians, industrial arts or vocational instructors, and all other persons performing supervisory and/or administrative functions in government-run academic institutions would also receive the benefit.

The following will not receive P1,000 on October 5:

• On absence without leave (AWOL) as of September 30, 2019;
• No longer in service as of September 30, 2019;
• Found guilty of any offense in connection with their work from September 18, 2018 to September 30, 2019; and
• Hired after September 30, 2019.

The government has allocated P800 million in the 2019 budget for this incentive, but a bigger budget is being eyed for 2020.

“Next year, another P900 million has been earmarked to pay for the WTDIB [World Teachers’ Day Incentive Benefit] in the proposed 2020 national budget that the House recently approved,” said Pasig City Representative Roman Romulo, chairman of the House committee on basic education and culture.

The increase is in anticipation of new hires, so that a greater number of teachers can enjoy the benefit, said Romulo. – Rappler.com