House proposal for public sector wage hike further widens gap between civilian and military pay

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today criticized a proposed public sector wage hike bill pending in the House of Representativesfor favoring military and uniformed personnel over employees in the civilian bureaucracy.
 

According to ACT national chairman Antonio Tinio, House Joint Resolution No. 24 will grant higher pay increases to military and police personnel relative to professionals in the civilian bureaucracy, such as teachers, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and doctors.
 

House Joint Resolution No. 24, “Joint Resolution Urging the President of the Philippines to Modify the Compensation and Position Classification System of the Government and to Implement the Same Initially Effective July 1, 2009, and Authorizing the Amendment of Existing Laws and Issuances Contrary to the Provisions of this Resolution,” was drafted by the Department of Budget and Managementand the Civil Service Commission and filed by Speaker Prospero Nograles on September 16, 2008. “Therefore, it is the Arroyo administration’s public sector wage hike proposal,” said Tinio, noting that there were numerous other proposed bills pertaining to salaries pending in the House.
 

“While we do not begrudge military and police personnel the pay increases that will be granted them, we do resent the fact that the Arroyo administration has consistently focused on upgrading the pay of uniformed personnel while neglecting to do the same for the civilian bureaucracy,” said Tinio. He pointed out that while Malacañang imposed a wage freeze on civilian personnel from 2001 to 2007, during the same period it substantially upgraded the salaries and benefits of military and police personnel. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing the same bias in the administration’s current proposal.”
 

ACT revealed that at a recent meeting of a Technical Working Group, DBM officials explained that a Police Officer I or Private will receive a total monthly compensation (which includes basic pay and allowances) of P19,800; a Cadet in the Philippine National Police Academy will receive P25,140; and a 2nd Lieutenant, P34,218. On the other hand, a Teacher I or Nurse I will receive P20,549; an Accountant I will receive P21,940; a doctor or lawyer (Medical Officer I or Attorney I) will receive P28,878. “In this proposal, a Cadet in the PNPA will be paid 22% higher than a public school teacher,” said Tinio. “In fact, the Cadet will have the same basic salary as anAssociate Professor I in our state universities and colleges. That’s a tenured Ph.D. holder sharing the same pay grade as a plebe in the academy. Is that fair to professionals in the civilian bureaucracy?”
 

“We appeal to the members of the House as well as the House leadership, particularly Speaker Nograles and Committee on Appropriations chairman Junie Cua, to heed our call for fairness and uplift the pay and status of teachers and other professionals in the civilian bureaucracy,” said Tinio. “In particular, our demand is for a P9,000 increase in the total compensation of teachers, from the current P14,026 to P23,026.”
 

Tinio made his appeal during a march of 5,000 public school teachers to the Batasang Pambansa. Teachers from Quezon City , Manila , Caloocan , and other cities of Metro Manila, as well as the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, and Tarlac, participated in the march. “This march signals our determination to carry on this struggle for decent salaries for teachers and other professionals in government.”
 

Similar protests were held simultaneously in Cebu City and Koronadal City .
In Koronadal City , more than 500 teachers marched to the Round Ball in the center of the city, where they held a rally and candlelighting ceremony in support of the call for a P9,000 increase in the salaries of teachers. #

References: Antonio Tinio (0920-9220817), ACT National Chairman
William Alterado (0920-6728592), ACT-Cebu City
Gloria Malcontento (0915-9441746), ACT-Koronadal

Teachers launch GSIS refund campaign in Cebu
Posted February 15th, 2009 by ACTNational

Reference: Antonio L. Tinio (0920-9220817), ACT National Chairperson
William Alterado, (0920-6728592) ACT Cebu City Chapter Chairperson

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers launched its nationwide campaign to demand refunds from the Government Service Insurance System in Cebu City yesterday.

ACT national chairman Antonio Tinio, who is currently facing five libel cases filed against him by GSIS President and General Manager Winston Garcia, urged public school teachers, who compose over a third of the GSIS membership, to fight for the scrapping of the pension fund’s policy of automatically deducting alleged arrears from the claims and benefits of its members. Tinio addressed the teachers at a meeting of ACT’s Cebu City chapter.

“This automatic deduction policy, known as the Claims and Loans Interdependency Policy or CLIP, introduced by GSIS President and General Manager Winston Garcia, tramples on the right of members to due process and in fact violates the GSIS law itself,” said Tinio, referring to Republic Act 8291, the “GSIS Act of 1997.”

He explained that Section 41(w) of the said law stipulates that the GSIS Board of Trustees must file a legal action or suit before the proper court or body in order to recover any arrears incurred by its members. “From the point of view of members, the law provides them with the protection of due process. The legal proceeding gives them an opportunity to challenge or disprove the claims being made by GSIS against them. On the other hand, the automatic deduction policy is unilateral, summary, and not subject to appeal. It violates the members’ right to due process.”

Tinio added that the policy is made more unjust due to the shoddy state of the GSIS membership records. “The GSIS is notorious for maintaining an incomplete and/or erroneous membership database, especially regarding the posting of premium payments. The GSIS itself acknowledges that they are currently engaged in a massive ‘reposting’ project to bring these up to date. Yet this does not keep them from using this flawed database to generate claims of ‘premiums in arrears’ against its members, which are then automatically deducted the moment they claim a benefit or take out a loan from the GSIS. In most cases these so-called premiums in arrears are false, merely the result of their failure to post premium payments. Members are thus subjected to double deductions.”

Tinio cited the case of a teacher in Tarlac who was entitled to a maturity claim of Php 93,185.44 but who only received Php 50,889.72 after the GSIS automatically deducted Php 42,295.72 in alleged premiums in arrears.

“This case is typical, it’s happening to GSIS members all over the country, and its one of the main reasons why there’s such widespread anger against the GSIS. Garcia is fond of extolling the billions of pesos in earnings made by GSIS under his stewardship. The fact is that most of it has been made through illegal deductions from the benefits of members.

Tinio explained that ACT’s “GSIS Refund Now!” campaign will involve the filing of a lawsuit to nullify the automatic deduction policy, a demand for the refunding of all deductions illegally made against members, and the prosecution of GSIS officials responsible for the said policy. “Our ACT chapters nationwide are giving out forms that will help teachers victimized by CLIP to document their experience.”

“Even though Cebu is the political stronghold of the Garcia clan of GSIS President and General Manager Winston Garcia, we teachers of Cebu are united in condemning the unjust and illegal policies of GSIS,” said ACT Cebu City chapter chairman William Alterado. “We’ll do our part in ensuring the success of the GSIS refund campaign.” #

 

8-point Education Reform Agenda
Posted January 31st, 2008 by ACTNational

The crisis of Philippine education is worsening. Quality of learning is deteriorating; school facilities are inadequate and obsolete; cost of education is rising; and campus repression is reaching an alarming level. Education is failing in its mission to equip young Filipinos with relevant life skills and knowledge to enable them to confront the challenges of nation-building.

Education reforms initiated by the private and public sectors do not address the roots of the crisis. Corruption defeats the efforts to improve delivery of education. State policies exacerbate the colonial, commercialized, elitist and fascist features of Philippine education.

It is true that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inherited a flawed education system. But Arroyo is also responsible for aggravating the crisis of education. A relevant, robust and efficient education system is not one of Arroyo's legacies in the past seven years. Arroyo's education program has further diminished the capability of schools and decreased the opportunities for learning in the country.

A deficient education system heightens social discontent and poverty. Thus, education policies should be overhauled immediately. New programs must address the basic problems of education. Failure to implement key reform measures will intensify the education crisis.

Different stakeholders of education have drafted an 8-point education agenda which highlights the crucial role of the government in reversing the decline of Philippine education.

1. Increase the budget of education. National spending on education should be equivalent to 6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. The education sector should receive at least 20 percent of the national budget. Increased government revenues should be used to fill the various gaps in the education sector like the shortages in classrooms, books, computers and other learning tools.

Public education, both formal and alternative systems, should be strengthened. More schools should be established in the country. Scholarship funds should be increased. The government should revamp its policy of reducing the budget of state universities and colleges. Dwindling funds lead to wholesale and subtle forms of insidious commercialization in public schools.

The government has enough resources to allocate higher funding for education. Lawmakers can give up a portion of their pork barrel in favor of education investments. Payment for anomalous debt contracts should be cancelled outright. A significant fraction of debt servicing and intelligence funds of Malacanang should be realigned to education services.

2. Use Filipino as medium of instruction. Language is an important factor in the cognitive development of children. Students learn better and faster if the national language is used in schools. Over the years, Arroyo has made the English language as the only medium of instruction in the country. Congress is supportive of this policy. Education agencies have prioritized programs that would improve English language proficiency. Arroyo's language policy, aside from reinforcing the colonial character of Philippine education, restricts the learning ability of students. Policymakers need to understand the pedagogic value of using the Filipino language in schools.

3. Improve teachers' welfare. Teachers are the most important human resource in Philippine education. Yet they continue to suffer from work overload while receiving low wages. Many times their salaries are even delayed. Congress should pass the bill that would raise the salaries of public school teachers and other government employees by P3,000. The Magna Carta of Private School Teachers should be enacted. Training and re-training of teachers should be given priority. Opportunities for graduate education or research activities by teachers should be enhanced.

4. Moratorium on tuition and other fee increases. Rising school fees are forcing hundreds of thousands of students to drop out from schools. Millions of young Filipinos could not afford the high cost of education today. Education officials are not seriously performing their duty to regulate school fees. At a time when prices of commodities are rising, and when household incomes continue to fall, a moratorium on tuition increases in both private and public schools can bring immediate relief to poor families. Congress can pass a law that will clarify and strengthen the mandate of the government to regulate school fees.

5. Develop a nationalist and relevant curriculum. School courses or subjects should prioritize the country's needs over the manpower requirements of other countries and multinational corporations. Vocational/Technica l education should match the actual needs of the local economy. Science education should be pursued to promote national industrialization and develop a productive agricultural system. Medical and nursing education should be reformed to meet community health needs. School courses should inculcate patriotism and inspire students to serve the people. Learning history and other social sciences, humanities and the arts should continue to be taught in schools.

6. Invest in science, research and technology development. The country's rich natural resources can be developed through sufficient investments in research and development, along the line of national industrialization and advancement of the agricultural sector. National spending on research and development should be equivalent to 1 percent of the GDP. Government should grant generous incentives to scientists, promote R&D in schools and use science and technology to solve hunger and poverty in the country. R&D should also be directed towards the protection of natural resources against exploitation by big companies.

7. Promote transparency in education programs. There are various initiatives to improve Philippine education. However, many of these programs are tainted with corruption. Taxpayers' money is wasted when corrupt bureaucrats take the lead in sponsoring programs with minimal or even dubious benefit to the public. The Cyber Education Program is an example of an overpriced, redundant and scandal-ridden project. There should be transparency in implementing education reforms. Stakeholders should be consulted first before approving major education programs. Other ongoing projects like the Call Center Training Academy of the Commission on Higher Education should be reviewed by the public.

8. Uphold democratic rights in schools. Teachers and students are among the victims of extrajudicial killings, forced abductions and other forms of political repression. The perpetrators of these crimes should be brought to justice. Democratic rights should be respected inside campuses. The vilification and psy-war operations conducted by the military and police in schools and universities against progressive student and teacher organizations under the guise of socio-civic activities should be ended immediately. Soldiers and police forces deployed or operating inside schools should be pulled out at once.

Academic freedom and the right to organize should be respected in schools. Congress should probe school authorities that implement rules and guidelines that violate basic rights provided by law.

The government should refrain from undermining the independence of the student movement. The establishment of government-sponsore d national student organizations is highly condemnable since this compromises student welfare and autonomy of student politics.

- National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), KABATAAN Party, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) -

The partylist representives are great fans of the hardworking and dedicated teachers,

but the teachers also are great fans of the partlyst representatives

and so they had a great time having their photos

Website: http://www.actphils.com/2007/