Teachers gather students to their sections during the first day of classes at the President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on June 5, 2017. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA - Senate President Vicente Sotto III has filed a bill seeking to exempt public school teachers from paying income taxes.
Sotto’s Senate Bill No. 241 seeks to amend certain portions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 to state that Teachers I, II, and III are exempted from paying income tax.
Sotto also proposes that the holiday pay, overtime pay, night shift differential, and hazard pay of entry-level teachers be tax-exempted.
"This bill is in consonance with the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers which aimed to promote and improve the social and economic status of public school teachers, their living and working conditions, their terms of employment and career prospects," Sotto said in a statement.
"We recognize the inevitable fact that our teachers play a crucial and significant role. The future of our youth and nation lies in the nurturing hands of our teachers.. We consider them as our modern day heroes.”
Several senators have filed their respective bills seeking to increase the salary of teachers, responding to the clamor of the public school educators.
Currently, the entry level Teacher I receives a minimum salary of P20,754 under Salary Grade 11.