Roque justifies claims on teacher’s salary increase

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque justified the veracity of his announcement that Duterte plans to increase the salaries of public school teachers.

This after Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin Diokno said that such claims cannot happen due to the government’s incapacity to dole out the needed P500 billion pesos to materialize the plan.

But Roque told reporters, “It’s very clear. Even the transcript of what I said here is clear because it was based on the transcript of the Cabinet meeting. He asked his Cabinet members to find ways to increase the salary of teachers.”

He clarified that he did not indicate the exact amount of how much increase Duterte wanted to give, saying that it was just his “speculation” when he said that it could be doubled.

“My statement was I am not sure how much the increase …… judging from the military and police……. could be double. No mistake there since I said I do not know by how much and speculated only,” Roque said.

He added that he could go wrong with his speculation on the amount of increase but insisted that what he was pointing out was the will of Duterte to give a wage hike.

“I did say I did not know by how much. I speculated. It is true that my speculation could be wrong but I did not unequivocally state how much the increase will be. I am unequivocally stating that the president ordered everyone to study how to increase the salaries of teachers,” Roque said.

Moreover, Roque assured that Duterte will increase the salary of teachers by as much as the government can because the president does not go back on his promises.

DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 01/ 12 /18