MANILA – The Department of Education (DepEd) took action Thursday to make sure that public school teachers receive no lower than P4,000 as their net take home pay.
The NTHP threshold is to be ensured by DepEd Order No. 55 (DO 55), series 2017, or the “Revised Guidelines on the Implementation of P4,000 Net Take Home Pay for the Department of Education Personnel,” signed by Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones.
“This is one of the Department’s moves to protect the interest of our teachers and personnel. We are also examining emergency measures to assuage the situation of those who have been negatively affected by the recent loan deduction,” Briones emphasized.
Under the Order, and pursuant to Section 47 of the General Provisions of Republic Act (RA) No. 10924, or the “General Appropriations Act of 2017,” contributions or obligations of premiums and loans to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) shall be given priority in the salary deductions. The same primacy shall be accorded to payments for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
Secretary Briones directed DepEd Authorized Approving Officers (AAOs) to “exercise due diligence” in certifying and ensuring that the DepEd personnel applying for loans are well aware of their capacity to pay, and of the interests and penalties that they may incur in case of delayed payment under the Automatic Payroll Deduction System (APDS). Non-mandatory deductions or loans not deducted under the APDS are to be paid by the personnel directly to the respective lenders.
While teachers in public schools receive salaries higher than those in private schools and other sectors of government service, teachers across the country have incurred P178 billion worth of loans from private learning institutions (PLIs) and P123 billion worth of credits due to GSIS as of December 2016.
“We would like to assure all DepEd personnel that their net pay, which goes to the provision of their daily needs, will not go lower than the P4,000 threshold. With this, we continue to identify and implement measures that will enable our teachers and personnel to manage their finances and retire comfortably in the future,” Secretary Briones added.
