The Chief Justice made the remarks a day after teachers from the cities of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Ozamiz, Butuan and Cebu gathered at protest actions in their localities to condemn corruption and demand an increase in their salaries. In Davao City, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers gathered infront of Centennial Park infront of the city hall to stage a rally against the Aquino administration’s system of political patronage through the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Program. Public school teachers “are losing patience over the state of public education amidst the controversial PDAF and DAP hounding the Aquino administration,” said the group’s president Elenito Escalante in a statement. “Despite the lack of books, classrooms and school toilets, and our meager salaries because the government says there is no budget for it, we persevered to give the best to our students, only to know that billions of publics funds were lost to corruption,” Escalante added. ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio, who also attended the celebration in Pasig City, confirmed that President Aquino had rebuffed the teachers’ demand for an increase in minimum pay. The President, who was preparing to leave for Indonesia on Saturday, did not issue a statement for World Teachers Day. Only Corona and Education Secretary Arman Luistro were at the celebrations. Tinio said Budget Secretary Butch Abad told congressmen during the budget deliberations that salary increases “would entail a huge amount of money” and the DBM will have to study if it is the “appropriate time” for a pay hike for teachers. Tinio argued that a salary increase for public school teachers would only amount to P5 billion, “an amount that would barely make a dent in PNoy’s pork” which is more than P964 billion. “The President hangs on to pork barrel funds, but for the just demands of public school teachers and other government employees, he gives nothing,” said Tinio. manilastandardtoday/2013/10/06/teach-right-values-fight-corruption-cj/
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 08:13:26 +0000
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