MANILA, Philippines – Nagdiwang ang mga guro sa Metro Manila makaraang itaas ng Department of Education (DepEd) ang ibinibigay na “clothing allowance” nila.

Sinabi ng Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) na nagbunga ang panawagan nila sa dagdag na kompensasyon para sa mga guro na inum­­pisahan nila noong 2011 sa paghiling na itaas ang clothing allowance sa P6,000 kada taon.

Bahagi anya ito ng “Ten Point Demand for Greater Budget for Education” na kanilang inilunsad.

Nagsagawa ang mga guro ng sunod-sunod na demonstrasyon at dayalogo sa mga opisyales ng pamahalaan. Kasama dito ang pagliham kay Education Secretary Armin Luistro na maaaring itaas ang clothing allowance sa P5,000 na maipagkakasya naman sa pondo ng ahensya base sa GeneralAppropriations Act of 2012.

Sa huling dayalogo ngayong taon kay DepEd-NCR budget chief, Paul Garcia, inihayag nito na itinaas na sa P5,000 ang clothing allowance ng mga guro sa Metro Manila.

“Fellow teachers, let us claim and rejoice our victory,” ayon kay France Castro, secretary-general ng ACT.

Sa kabila ng tagum­pay, sinabi ni Castro na patuloy pa rin nilang ipag­lalaban ang iba pang pangangailangan sa edukasyon tulad ng dagdag na mga guro, regularisasyon ng mga kaswal at volunteer na guro, dagdag sa suweldo at iba pang benepisyo.

A legislator on Wednesday sought to raise to P60,000 from the current P30,000 ceiling the total exclusion from gross income of the 13th-month pay and other benefits of State workers and  private employees to increase their take home income for their families.

House Bill 5661, will complement House Bill 4177 that seeks to increase the ceiling for total exclusion of the Christmas bonus and other benefits from the computation of taxable income from P30,000 to P40,000 to provide workers and employees reprieve from the country’s worsening economic condition.

In filing HB 5661, Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio of Act Teachers wants to amend Section 32 (B) (7)(e) of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) so the 13th-month pay and other benefits received by officials and employees of government and private-sector workers shall not be included in gross income and shall be exempt from taxation, provided that the total exclusion shall not exceed P60,000.

Tinio said his proposal is in support of Article ll, Section 18 of the Constitution which recognizes labor as a primary socioeconomic force and affirms the mandate of the State to protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare.

Tinio noted that despite this constitutional provision, majority of salary and wage earners in the private and public sectors suffer from “indecently low pay” as well as from meager benefits.

“With respect to employees in the civil service, their salaries oftentimes stagnate for long periods due to the failure of Congress to periodically amend the Salary Standardization Law. Workers in the private sector, on the other hand, have their wages tied to the politics and bureaucracy associated with the wages and productivity boards,” Tinio said.

The misery on wages, Tinio said is compounded by the present income taxation law as he noted that even without considering the unrestrained inflation in prices of commodities and services, salary increases are hardly felt by employees in the public and private sectors.

“Whether the increases are caused by salary upgrading in a few agencies of the government, the implementation of the Salary Standardization Law 3, or regional wage hikes, the taxable incomes of employees also increase, and most of them become subject to higher tax rates,” said Tinio.

He said the 13th-month pay and other benefits, generally based on the basic pay, also increase. In most cases, the present P30,000 ceiling for a total exclusion of these benefits apply, thus subjecting the excess of P30,000 to income tax.

Last year, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) campaigned for the Ten Point Demand

for Greater Budget for Education which included  the demand to  increase the clothing allowance of teachers and all government employees  to P6,000/year. Nationwide, teachers under ACT, led this campaign and after a series of mass dialogues and delegations to concerned agencies, the campaign  bore fruit.

Thereafter, Alliance of Concerned Teachers Partylist Representative wrote again to Education Secretary Armin Luistro about the General Appropriations  Act of 2012 that the clothing allowance can be increased to a maximum  of P5,000.

In a recent dialogue of ACT with DepEd-NCR, Mr. Paul Garcia, DepEd-NCR Budget Chief told Ms. France Castro that the clothing allowance has been increased to P5,000. “Fellow teachers, let us claim and rejoice our victory,” Ms France Castro, Secretary-general of ACT pointed out.

“Again this is one concrete proof that our collective actions within and without the classrooms is a potent tool so that the government will act on our specific demands. Brace yourselves then for more campaigns to lead and launch,” Ms

National Spokespersons:

Ms. France Castro

Secretary General

In a recent dialogue of ACT with DepEd-NCR, Mr. Paul Garcia, DepEd-NCR Budget Chief told Ms. France Castro that the clothing allowance has been increased to P5,000. “Fellow teachers, let us claim and rejoice our victory,” Ms France Castro, Secretary-general of ACT pointed out.

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