Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, along with her husband House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, on Sunday urged the urgent passage of two bills seeking to increase the teaching supplies allowance for public teachers and create a private education fund to increase the salary of educators in the private schools as the country celebrates World Teacher’s Day today, Monday.
The Romualdezes manifested their admiration for the Filipino educators’ “devotion and unparalleled dedication” to ensure that “no child will be left behind” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have witnessed the devotion of our Filipino teachers to their vocation and their unparalleled dedication to their students. It is high time that we displayed the appropriate reciprocity by giving our teachers the commensurate benefits that they deserve,” the party-list lawmaker said.
The majority leader is the House committee on rules chairman, while his wife is head of the committee on the welfare of children.
The couple vowed that they “will continue to protect and uphold the welfare of our teachers” by pushing for the urgent passage of House Bill 7744, or the proposed Teaching Supplies Allowance Act of 2019 and HB 6349, or the Partnership in Private Basic Education Act.
The Romualdezes are the principal authors of the measures.
Meanwhile, Congress has earmarked a P4.9-billion emergency fund to help students and teachers cope with the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas said on Sunday.
Gullas, a House appropriations committee member, said “we’ve authorized a P4-billion lump sum to further facilitate the public school system’s shift to blended remote learning.
“The new money will enable the DepEd to deploy digital technologies for online learning and harness alternative methods of instruction, including the production and delivery of self-learning modules to students.”
The House of Representatives has also allotted another P600 million in subsidies and allowances to qualified students of public and private elementary and secondary schools, as well as higher education institutions.
“We’ve also approved an extra P300 million in financial aid to the displaced faculty and non-teaching staff of public and private elementary, secondary and tertiary schools, including part-time teachers in state universities and colleges,” Gullas said.
“All these new appropriations are contained in the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.”
Gullas, an educator, said another P920 million was set for an incentive for World Teachers’ Day. Each school teacher will receive today an annual benefit of P1,000.
On Saturday, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers denounced the government's alleged lack of regard for the education sector by only allocating P4 billion to the sector in the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.
In a statement, ACT said the administration had not "lifted a finger" for the sector as it denied the Department of Education's request for a supplemental budget to fund the requisites for the coming school year, which is set to open on Oct. 5.
“There’s no question about the President’s absolute lack of regard for education,” said ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio.
“This has been evident from years of poor budget allocation under his rule to the complete abandonment of this basic social service as it shifted to remote learning. Meanwhile, Secretary Leonor Briones, who should have championed the interests of the sector, also opted to fawn over the President at the expense of our welfare and rights.”