Senator Bong Revilla is calling on his fellow legislators to support Senate Bill No. 1092, or “An Act Institutionalizing the Grant of Teaching Supplies Allowance for Public School Teachers,” under Committee Report No. 14 jointly submitted by the Committees on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation; Basic Education, Arts and Culture; Ways and Means; and Finance.
Under this bill, more than 800,000 teachers will be provided with P5,000 each to be used as chalk and teaching supplies allowance, compared to the P3,500 they are presently receiving.
The bill further ensures that the said allowance will be responsive to the needs of the teachers by mandating the Secretary of Education to conduct a periodic review and recommend necessary increase based on current prices of the materials.
“Mr. President, sabi nga ng ating mga guro, mabuti pa ang mga sundalo, binibigyan ng bala para sa kanilang baril, pero ang mga guro, hindi binibigyan ng chalk para sa kanilang blackboard,” Revilla said.
“The allowance given to teachers is not enough.”
(Mr. President, our teachers are saying that while soldiers are given bullets for their guns, teachers are not given chalks for their blackboards.)
“Sa totoo lang po, binibigyan naman sila ng allowance para pambili ng chalk at iba pang materyales na kailangan nila sa pagtuturo. Ngunit kulang na kulang ang halagang binibigay sa kanila kaya isinusulong natin na madagdagan ito,” the veteran legislator added.
(While it is true that teachers are given allowances to buy chalk and other teaching materials, the allowance given to teachers is not enough. That is why we are pushing for this increase.)
The seasoned lawmaker expressed his confidence that the chamber will continue to extend its support in pushing for the increases in the teaching supplies allowance like in the previous years.