Heeding the national call to press for the P3,000 salary increase and payment of back COLA (Cost of Living Allowance), some 250 teachers from around 20 schools under the newly-formed Coalition for Teachers’ Welfare (CTW) held a Candle-Lighting Ceremony at the People’s Park last December 7, 2005.

Wearing pins that bear these calls, teachers reiterate the validity of their demands, Ms. Ms. Irene Nabunat of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) – Metro Baguio, recalled to the gathering that the P3000 salary increase demand, which has been a campaign since 1999, has not been responded to by the GMA administration. Since then, the real value of the peso has continuously gone down, yet the salaries of teachers have stagnated. The gross salary of a new teacher is only P9,900, a very far cry from the government set poverty threshold at P18,000 for a family of 6. She further called on government to release the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) with the Supreme Court ruling already stating that government workers are due their COLA since 1989 and with Malacanang acknowledging such accountability to government workers.

Mr. Santiago Bugtong of the Bakakeng Elementary School, on the other hand, stressed the important relationship of advancing quality education and recognizing teachers’ rights and welfare. He said that the role of the teacher in national development cannot be underestimated and he must be given the dignity that he deserves and that can only come from providing him sufficiency in his basic needs.

Together with Ms. Brenda Carino of the Bagnio City National High School, he challenged the teachers to join forces in the Coalition for Teachers’ Welfare towards a common goal of advancing the teachers’ rights and welfare. Both marked this occasion as just the beginning of more activities that the coalition will undertake toward this end.

Lighting candles that symbolized hope for the success of the P3000 and COLA campaigns, the teachers prayed for unity and strength especially in the midst of the economic and political crises the country is in.

The government’s positive response to the teachers’ demands will surely be a relief from the continuous price increases of almost all goods and services especially with the implementation of the Expanded Value-Added Tax (EVAT) and the continuous oil price hikes.

The participation of the Metro Baguio teachers in this national action was an offshoot of a training on the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers sponsored by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers – Metro Baguio last December 2 at the PNA Bldg. here in Baguio.

Press release by: Association of Concerned Teachers Metro Baguio
Dec. 7, 2005
Reference: Ms. Irene Nabunat and Ms. Connie Sulang – 300-3489, 445-2586