The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) brought its nationwide salary petition directly to Malacañang, urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to approve pay hikes for educators and government workers, including a P50,000 entry-level salary for teachers and P36,000 for Salary Grade 1 employees.

ACT Chairperson Ruby Bernardo said the delegation deliberately brought the appeal to the seat of executive power to underscore what she described as years of neglect in the education sector.

“Kami na mismo ang maghahatid ng panawagan sa pangulo para sa disente at nakabubuhay na sweldo,” Bernardo said, stressing that educators have long been forced to endure overcrowded classrooms, heavy workloads, and increasing debt just to remain in the profession.

She said teachers continue to sustain the public education system despite persistent underfunding and poor working conditions.

ACT said nine out of 10 public school teachers earn below the estimated family living wage, while compensation in private schools, State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) remains uneven and, in many cases, insufficient.

In LUCs, salaries are tied to the income classification of local government units, while private school teachers often face suppressed wages due to the absence of a standardized pay scale and limited state support. 

SUC entry-level salaries, the group added, remain far from what it considers a livable income.

The group also warned that low pay and difficult working conditions are driving a growing number of teachers out of the profession or into overseas employment, worsening staffing shortages in schools.

“You cannot build a stable education system on the permanent sacrifice of its workers,” Bernardo said, describing the ongoing exodus of educators as a consequence of systemic undervaluation of their labor.

ACT also linked its wage demands to broader economic pressures, citing rising prices of basic goods and services.

The group is also pushing for a P36,000 minimum pay for Salary Grade 1 government workers and a P1,200 national minimum wage for all sectors, saying the struggle of teachers is tied to the broader struggle of Filipino workers.

“The fight of teachers is the fight of all workers,” Bernardo said. 

“The demand for a living wage in education is inseparable from the demand for a living wage across all sectors,” she added.