Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian is demanding higher base salaries for public school teachers, claiming that an entry-level educator should be paid more than P30,000, an increase of around P6,800, in order to promote more participants to enter the educators. Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian, who is running for re-election, proposed raising the salary grade of a Teacher I from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 13 or 14 (P29,798 or P32,321) (P25,439).

“We want to raise the morale of our teachers and encourage more students to take up education courses,” the lawmaker, who chairs his chamber’s basic education, arts and culture committee, in a statement published on the Senatorial website on Tuesday.

According to estimates from the senator’s office, if a Teacher I’s salary standard is raised to Salary Grade 13 under the third portion of the Salary Standardization Law V, the country will need to pour in P58.6 billion on top of the P379.6 billion in annual compensation for Teachers I, II, and III.

Meanwhile, if a Teacher I’s salary grade is brought up to Salary Grade 14 under the current portion, the country will need to allot an additional P92.1 billion for Teachers I, II, and III on top of their annual compensation. According to Gatchalian, the starting salary for teachers in the Philippines is lower than in other ASEAN member countries, with Indonesian teachers earning P66,099 and Singaporean teacher educators earning P60,419. He spoke at the “Uniteam” proclamation rally last week, endorsing the late dictator’s son Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. for president and Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as vice president. Education remains a key platform in his reelection campaign.