Perks for public school staff pushed
A Senator on Thursday pushed for the provision of a total of P20,000 annual allowance for public education system personnel to be modified every three years based on the inflation rate.
In a press release, Senator Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva said Senate Bill No. 1606 seeks to provide a P5,000 quarterly benefit for all teaching and non-teaching personnel in the public basic education system, including those in the Alternative Learning System.
He proposed the same benefits to be granted to all teaching personnel in state universities and colleges, as well as state-run technical-vocational institutions, under Senate Bill No. 1605.
“Benefit amounts are adjusted every three years to account for inflation, meaning the allowances will not lose purchasing power over time,” he said.
Both bills indicated that the additional allowances must be exempted from taxes unless the incentives received by the staff exceed the benefits threshold mandated by the National Internal Revenue Code of the Philippines under its Section 32(B), Chapter VI.
“By institutionalizing these additional benefits through legislation, we protect them from budgetary fluctuations and administrative discretion,” Mr. Villanueva said in his explanatory note for Senate Bill No. 1606. — Kaela Patricia B. Gabriel
