We have moved our petition to a local hosted script because of the requirements of the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 (please refer esp. to Chapter II of the said law). Essentially, for online documents in the Philippines to have legal effect, we must have some way of checking the identity of the person behind the signature, i.e., that it is signed by a real person. This is not possible with the PetitionOnline.com setup. I'm very sorry for the 130 signatories in the old PetitionOnline.com petition.

Updates
Senate Bill No. 2048 passed the third reading of the Senate and was forwarded to the House of Representatives on July 31, 2008 (the first message here was posted on June 14, 2008).

The bill proposes a PHP 9,000/month additional compensation, to be given over a 3-year period in three tranches (i.e. PHP 3,000/month increase for each year), to public school teachers, locally-funded teachers, non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education and Philippine Science High School teaching and non-teaching personnel.

It likewise seeks a PHP 1,000 medical check-up annual allowance for covered beneficiaries and a Magna Carta bonus to public school teachers and non-teaching personnel of the DepEd.

A copy of the bill can be downloaded here: http://eduphil.org/attachment.php?aid=36

There is a concurrence bill in the House of Representatives, HB04734, titled "An Act Providing for Additional Compensation for Public School Teachers" filed on July 9, 2008, by Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan of GABRIELA and co-authored by Reps. Liza Maza, Rafael Mariano, Teodoro Casino, Satur Ocampo, and Raul del Mar, but currently it is under study by the Technical Working Group (TWG), since November 24, 2008. What we want is to request the TWG to get on with the life of the bill and have it pass the required procedure.

How you can help

In most cases, copying and pasting the text of the petition above anywhere else on the web (your blogs, Friendster, Multiply, etc.) and linking to the PetitionOnline.com copy should work.

1. Sign the petition!
2. Blog about it and link to the petition: http://eduphil.org/public-school-teachers-salary/ (or, you can use the shorter and easier to remember URL: http://tinyurl.com/teachersalary)
3. Put something like this in your email signature:

Increase the Salary of Public School Teachers Now! - http://tinyurl.com/teachersalary

(Use of the shorter URL is recommended since it is easier to remember and type on the browser's address bar.)

(How to create an email signature in GMail and Yahoo.)

4. Add it to your Yahoo Messenger status. TinyURL link: http://tinyurl.com/teachersalary
5. Write to your local paper about this.
6. Text your friends about the petition.
7. Use a signature for your forum profile.

Original post
The original post (less the striked out words) was as follows:

The Senate passed on 2nd reading last week a bill to add additional 9,000 pesos per month to the salary of public school teachers.

Now I'm wondering where they will get the money.

Don't get me wrong; my mother and two elder sisters are all public school teachers. (Maybe I should ask Nanay not to retire after this school year.)

As one Mar Roxas supporter told me: it's not that the government does not have the money, it is that we are putting it in the wrong places.

Okay, 9000 is good if the government will be the one spending for the food and transportation for teachers assigned in mountain barangays.

@government_sucks, are you employed as a school teacher in a mountain barangay right now?

When this is going to be approved and effective? Sana magkatotoo para dumami ang maenganyo na maging teacher.

By the time ma-approve ni, 100 kapin na ang kilo sa NFA rice.

heheheheheheheh

I wanted to check the status of the bill from the Senate website, but they are still down at the moment. I do think however that it is still in the second reading, since we would have received news about it if it passed the third reading. Also, the Lower House still need to pass a similar version, and you know that there are differences between the two houses now.

@pareng jo: If it gets approved at all

sounds too good to be true..
a 9000-peso increase, in one blow? hmmm

Nope, the bill calls for tranches: 3,000 pesos for each year.

Again, the question is where they will get the money. See my edited first post.

If ever, this bill gets approve... It would be best if it won't be given to all teachers, only to those who truly deserves.

What I mean is... the administration should think of a merit program, wherein a set of criteria should be laid out to everyone and only those who achieve the goals set for the school year will be given the merit increase.

at least, some teachers get motivated to really do their job...

heheheehehehe

I beg to disagree on that point Ton. And I am not saying this just because my mother and two sisters are in the public school system. If there is an across-the-board increase, it should be given to all teachers, regardless of rank and evaluation.

A merit increase is different. In fact, there is already a merit pay adjustment available to public school teachers now.