TEACHERS and Department of Education (DepEd) non-academic personnel should be happy after their net take- home pay will be raised from P3,000 to P5,000.

In DepEd Order 8, Education Secretary Armin Luistro also gave the assurance that deductions like the personnel’s contributions or obligations to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), PhilHealth and Pag-Ibig, mutual-benefit associations, thrift banks, loans, cooperatives, provident associations and insurance companies accredited by the government will not be affected by his order.

“Provided, that such deductions shall not reduce the employees’ monthly net take-home pay to an amount lower than P5,000 after all authorized deductions. Provided further, than in the event when total authorized deductions shall reduce net take home pay to less than P5, 000, authorized deductions under Item A [BIR, GSIS, PhilHealth, Pag-Ibig] shall enjoy first preference,” Luistro said.

The net take-home pay has always been the concern that teachers raised to the department, saying that P3,000 is not enough for them to make a decent living, adding that it is not also enough to raise a family.

However, Luistro stressed that the order would not be retroactive or cover those existing deductions so, as he explained, “not to disturb the current payroll system.”

Under the new order, deductions shall not be allowed when the net take-home pay of borrowing teachers and other DepEd employees would be reduced to an amount lower than P5,000.

Another point that teachers have been complaining against is in the accreditation process for private lending institutions (APDS), saying that for many years it was unregulated, unmonitored and abused, resulting in some of these firms charging interest rates as high as 75 percent of the loan.

They also said some DepEd personnel are in collusion with these erring private lending institutions, particularly in the preparation of the monthly deduction reports.

Luistro said the DepEd has implemented a slew of reform measures in the accreditation process such as mandating the imposition of the “newly adjusted ceiling for interest and non-interest rates as well as the manner of the loan computation offered to teachers and other DepEd employees.”