Press Release
July 2, 2019

Villanueva pushes for additional allowance for teachers, faculty of SUC, state-run tech-voc schools, to improve their living conditions

Senator Joel Villanueva has filed a bill that provides an additional allowance for faculty members in state universities and colleges (SUC), as he sought to improve the living conditions of teachers in higher education institutions.

The bill providing additional benefits for teaching personnel in SUCs and state-run technical and vocational institutions is one of 10 priority measures that Villanueva is pushing in the 18th Congress.

Villanueva said he hoped that the measure, once passed into law, gives faculty members better compensation with additional grocery and medical allowances every quarter.

"We seek to uplift the standing of our faculty in public higher education institutions with this bill. We hope that maintaining a competitive salary package in public universities and colleges helps our SUCs retain the best faculty among their ranks," Villanueva said in a statement. "After all, they bear the heavy responsibility of shaping our youth into the professionals of tomorrow."

In the same vein as the additional allowance for SUC faculty, he likewise pushed for a similar measure that augments the pay of school teachers in basic education.

Villanueva also filed a measure that institutionalizes the skills certificate equivalency program (SCEP) of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Under the SCEP, an individual holding a TESDA-issued national certificate (NC) may seek the appropriate civil service eligibility from the CSC.

"An NC is a proof of one's expertise on a certain skill or a set of skills. It is an assurance of the competencies of a skilled worker. Thus, this bill is consistent with the Constitutional policy that appointments in the civil service are made only according to merit and fitness," Villanueva said.

"The passage of this bill will ensure the security of tenure of qualified skilled workers in government, provide equal opportunities to middle skill workers to enter civil service, and certainly improve the image of tech-voc education in the country," he continued.

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