DAVAO CITY — Incoming Vice President Secretary Sara Duterte said on Monday the education department under her leadership would look into calls for raising the salary of teachers.

"The [Rodrigo] Duterte administration did something about that so we'll dovetail from what the Duterte administration did for the welfare of teachers," she said in a press conference, when asked if she would prioritize giving educators a salary hike.

"Titingnan natin paano natin ma-push yun, kung ano yung mga accomplishments galing sa administration ni PRRD," added Duterte, wwould serve as the education secretary of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

(We will look at how to push that, what are the accomplishments from the administration of PRRD.)

Alliance of Concerned Teachers Secretary-General Raymond Basilio earlier in the day said raising the salary of educators was about "correcting the injustice done to our teachers."

"We know that there are some limitations with the budget but we're doing this injustice to our teachers for several years already. Recently the Supreme Court upheld that the entry-level pay for nurses is Salary Grade 15 or P37,000," he told ANC's Headstart.

"We have the same qualification for our military personnel, their pay has been increased years ago. It's quite unfair for teachers who have the same qualification and job description have been left out."

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• Teachers' group asks Marcos for 'significant' pay hike

Public school teachers have been clamoring for a big pay hike after President Rodrigo Duterte doubled the salaries of policemen, soldiers and other uniformed personnel.

• Duterte: Teachers' pay raise next but no doubled salary for now

Duterte in 2020 signed the Salary Standardization Law, which provided wage hikes for government workers, including public school teachers.

• Duterte signs law on pay hike for gov't workers

In 2019, an entry-level teacher earned P20,754 under Salary Grade (SG) 11. This was raised to P22,316 in 2020 through the law.

This year, teachers began receiving P25,439 under SG 11. This will climb to P27,000 next year as part of the pay hike law's final tranche.

— With a report from Jaehwa Bernardo, ABS-CBN News