TEACHERS RALLY AT BATASAN TODAY FOR PAY HIKE
MANILA, SEPTEMBER 29, 2008 (MALAYA) SOME 5,000 public school teachers will hold a rally today at the House of Representatives in Quezon City to press their call for a P9,000 increase in their monthly salaries.Teacher’s Dignity Coalition (TDC) chairman Benjo Basas said they will lobby for the allocation of a budget for the salary increase bill. He said various teachers’ groups have assured them of full support in their mass action.
The basic salary of teachers is currently P10,000 a month but TDC said high prices have made it impossible for teachers to survive on this, forcing many of them to take on additional jobs or go to loan sharks. The coalition cited the latest data from the National Statistics Coordinating Board which pegged the poverty threshold for Metro Manila at P10,000, saying this is only enough for the basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation and excludes recreation and emergency expenses.
Basas said they are optimistic they will get the support of other congressmen aside from Education committee chair and Marikina Rep. Del de Guzman who is fully backing their case and Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto Guingona III who will give a privilege speech in support of the bill authorizing the pay hike.
The Senate has already passed its version of the bill on third reading but the House has yet to deliberate on its counterpart bill. The proposed bill will give the pay hike in three equal tranches of P3,000 from 2008 to 2010 and provide other compensation like remuneration from local government units, medical allowance and the Magna Carta bonus. – Ashzel Hachero
Bacolor rehab gets P1.5B
(MALAYA) PRESIDENT Arroyo signed into law Sunday the bill creating the Bacolor Rehabilitation Council (BRC) intended to complete rehabilitation of Bacolor town in Pampanga which was buried in lahar and other volcanic debris following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.
The BRC will be chaired by the regional director of the National Economic and Development Authority - Regional Office 3 with the mayor of Bacolor as vice chair. The council will have as members the governor of Pampanga; the regional directors of the Departments of Public Works and Highways, Agriculture, and Trade and Industry; Lower House representatives from Pampanga’s third district or his authorized representative; the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Bacolor; and a representative each from the academe and a non-government organization.
The BRC is tasked mainly to draft a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for Bacolor which shall be submitted to the President for approval; and to meet regularly to evaluate the progress of the rehabilitation plan.
The BRC law, authored by Sen. Benigno Aquino III and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., will set aside P1.5 billion in special funds in the 2009 budget for use of the council.
Arroyo, after the signing ceremonies, proceeded to San Isidro in Nueva Ecija to visit the family of the late Leofolo Tecson, who died after being hit by a runaway army truck that accompanied the presidential convoy from Cabiao in Nueva Ecija last Sept. 11.
Presidential Security Group commander Brig. Gen. Celedonio Boquiren said Tecson’s family was given monetary help, including scholarship, livelihood and burial assistance immediately after the accident.
Similar cash and livelihood assistance was also provided to Ronel Tecson who was also injured in the accident. Tecson and Odulio were on a tricycle when the army truck carrying the K-9 unit of the PSG reportedly lost its brakes and rammed into them in San Isidro. The two were rushed to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Gapan with the PSG and the Presidential Management Staff shouldering their medical needs. – Jocelyn D. Montemayor
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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