MISLEADING: No pay hike for teachers in proposed 2020 budget

Claim: The proposed 2020 National Expenditure Program (NEP) does not provide for a salary hike for public school teachers.

Website DepEd Click said in an article that despite getting the lion’s share in the proposed 2020 national budget, the department has no provision for a salary increase for teachers.

DepEd Click posted the article on September 3, 2019 and got over 4,000 shares, 5,000 comments, and 18,000 reactions as of writing. Social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle identified 7 Facebook pages and 10 groups that shared the article on Facebook.

Among the pages that had the highest Facebook interactions are Supporters of Magdalo and Gary Alejano, LP Manila-Team Lagalag, and No To Marcos Burial At Libingan NG MGA Bayani.

Rating: MISLEADING

The facts: While there is no line item in the proposed 2020 budget for a salary increase for teachers, there is an allocation for compensation adjustment for all government employees, including public school teachers. It is part of the miscellaneous personnel benefits fund (MPBF).

The MPBF was the same fund used in increasing the base pay of the police and military in 2018.

In the proposed 2020 NEP, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earmarked P31.1 billion for “payment of compensation adjustment” for all civil servants under the MPBF. The budget department has also said that it will submit to Congress in October a proposal for a fresh round of salary increases for civilian government workers in 2020.

However, the proposed amount for civil servants’ salary adjustment in 2020 is 39.8% lower than the P51.7-billion allocation in 2019.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT Teachers) criticized the proposed allocation, saying that it is not enough for public school teachers to have a “substantial, reasonable, and living wage.”

Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones had earlier clarified that she is not against salary hikes for teachers but stressed that all government workers should be taken into consideration, in addition to the country’s present fiscal capacity. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

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