SENATOR Sherwin T. Gatchalian filed a bill that aims to raise the salary of public school teachers to be at par with the ASEAN average.

In a statement released on Friday, the senator said that he had filed Senate Bill No. 178 which aims to raise the salaries of Teacher I, Teacher II, and Teacher III in public schools so they are at par with teachers’ salaries in the ASEAN region.

“We compared the salaries of teachers from the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, and based on our research, among these seven member-nations of the ASEAN, we are third to the last in terms of annual salaries of teachers — above only Malaysia and Vietnam and below the ASEAN average at that,” Mr. Gatchalian said.

He noted that the annual salary of public school teachers, including their benefits, on average is $18,160 or almost P930,000 while the ASEAN 7 average is $27,742 or almost P1.5 million.

“If our bill becomes law, it would increase the average annual teachers’ salary in the Philippines to $21,547, closer to the ASEAN 7 average,” Mr. Gatchalian said.

The Bill will increase the following positions’ salaries: Teacher I from P20,754 to P25,232; Teacher II from P22,938 to P27,755; and Teacher III from P25,232 to P30,531.

Using data from the Department of Education (DepEd), the Senator said that DepEd has 889,700 employees, of which 83% are Teachers I, II, and III. — Gillian M. Cortez

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