ACT warns of ‘mass leave’ over pay hike

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines on Monday said teachers may resort to “mass leave” if the government continues to ignore calls for a salary increase in the education sector. 

“Teachers and personnel are always told ‘maybe later’ and ‘the government has no funds’ when it comes to salary increase and benefits,” ACT Philippines Chairperson Ruby Bernardo told BusinessWorld in Filipino on a Facebook message. 

“Us, teachers, are determined to fight for a decent and livable wage, and we will launch various forms of protests,” she added. “Whether through walkout, strike, picket, or even mass leave, to assert and win our demands.” 

According to a statement, the group is petitioning for a P50,000 entry-level salary for teachers, P36,000 for school personnel under Salary Grade (SG) 1, and a P1,200 national living wage for all workers nationwide. 

The current entry-level wage for public school teachers is about P30,000 under SG 11. Ms. Bernardo noted that despite the salary adjustment in 2024, which she described as “meager” and “loose change”, teachers remain financially challenged and in debt. 

“Because of the severity of the crisis brought by the Middle East war and a failing government, the value of our take-home pay continues to decrease,” she said in Filipino on a Facebook post yesterday. 

“We do not feel the impact of the meager and tight-fisted salary raise under the Executive Order (EO) 64 of the Marcos Jr. administration,” she added. 

Under EO 64, state workers, including public school teachers, are mandated to receive a four-tranche salary adjustment from 2024 to 2027. In January, the government began implementing the third tranche of salary hike. 

Ms. Bernardo also raised concerns about the salary increase among military and uniformed personnel (MUP). 

“Police and soldiers have it better. The previous administration has already doubled the salary of police and military,” she said in Filipino. 

“They were also able to double the daily subsistence allowance this year with just one Executive Order from the president,” she added. 

In the 2026 national budget, the government has allocated P21.7 billion for the first tranche of base pay increase among MUPs. Meanwhile, the subsistence allowance received a P71.1 billion allocation this year, bumping the daily subsistence allowance to P350. 

“The president’s priority lies with the uniformed men that holds guns and bullets,” Ms. Bernardo said. — Almira Louise S. Martinez