Poe’s higher teachers’ pay proposal welcomed

May I thank C. Cano, S. Daez, J. Dimayuga, K. Habaluyas, K. Rosas and Y. Trinidad for their letter (“Raise teachers’ wages for touching lives,” Letters, 8/29/14) in connection with Sen. Grace Poe’s proposal to increase the salaries of public school teachers from P18,549 to P25,000.

Their observation about the impact of teachers on the lives of students—more specifically, for imparting knowledge to, and for nurturing and instilling values in, the latter—is spot on.

Exactly! These were the reasons why in the early 1960s we in the Philippine Public School Teachers Association (PPSTA) helped then senator Eva Estrada Kalaw prepare and push for the approval of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers and for the Standardization of Salaries, which  professionalized our stature and provided for a regular increase in salaries—so that even if a teacher is not promoted to principal, she can receive the same salary, meaning, as Teacher IV she gets the salary of a Principal I.

I should know. I used to be a director and secretary of the PPSTA and as such I reported to Kalaw at her home in Sampaloc, where I worked with her even as I was served an ample Kapampangan breakfast every morning.

So, Senator Grace, please have your proposal approved. But why not P30,000 a month?

—CONSUELO D. SISON,

retired high school principal,

[email protected]