October is Teachers Month. It is time to once again recognize “Our Teachers, Our Heroes” for painstakingly molding our nation by inculcating love of country among their pupils and students and making every Filipino a hero.
The Department of Education- National Employees Union (DepEd-NEU) and the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) take this annual occasion as an opportunity to push for an across-the-board salary increase of P10,000 a month (in three tranches—P4,000 in the first year and P3,000 in the second and third years) over the next three years for the more or less 550,000 teaching and nonteaching personnel of the DepEd.
Malacañang immediately responded by declaring that, as of the moment, the request cannot be granted simply because such increase will entail approximately P28.60 billion in the first year and P21.45 billion in each of the second and third years, or a whopping P71.50 billion in additional budget for education in the years it is to be implemented. At first glance, Malacañang is totally right.
First, the huge amount needed cannot be taken from other equally important social services that the government must provide for the people. Second, increasing taxes is simply unacceptable to the people, and improving tax collection will remain a pipe dream because people dodge paying the right taxes to the government
owing to their mistrust in government due to graft and corruption.
However, there is a source for this that is staring directly in our faces but it will require our collective will to rechannel it to where it is needed—the budget allocated to the Armed Forces of the Philippines for counterinsurgency!
But we have to stand up and assert our individual and collective human right to peace to stop the self-declared armed nationalists who, for the past four decades, have been waging their armed struggle, demanding so-called revolutionary taxes from us as they fight against professional soldiers who are constitutionally mandated to “protect” our rights and who are financed by taxes we pay to our duly constituted government.
To date, there are already 10.6 million Yes for Peace KaBayanihans who have, through “Our Teachers, Our Heroes,” committed themselves to collectively get involved and participate in implementing all peace and development programs and projects that may be agreed upon in open and participatory peace talks to be held here in the Philippines instead of halfway across the world.
Together, let us dictate our will upon those who believe that we have given them the permission to continue waging the decades-long armed struggle that has wasted hundreds of billions of pesos and will continue to waste more public money if we remain silent about it!
If they would not listen to us, then, they are clearly not fighting for us. They are fighting only for themselves using our name.
—ERNESTO ANGELES ALCANZARE, lead organizer,
Yes For Peace-Bayanihan para
sa KKK, c/o DepEd National Employees Union,
DepEd Compound,
Meralco Avenue, Pasig City