MANILA, Philippines — Police and other uniformed personnel under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) must be given priority in any wage hike before the government looks into granting the demand for an increase in teachers’ salaries, according to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.

This, Año explained, is because police and uniformed personnel were not part of the implementation of the last Salary Standardization Law (SSL) for government workers’ pay hike.

“Moreover, given the huge number of our public school teachers now at 830,000 (as opposed to only 170,000 police officers), a teachers’ pay hike is not easy and needs careful consideration because of its huge financial impact on the Filipino taxpayer,” he said in a statement yesterday, supporting Education Secretary Leonor Briones’ discussion on the considerations needed in making the decision.

The Department of Education has found an ally in the DILG in the former’s bid to pull in the reins on the sustained agitation from public school teachers for an across-the-board pay hike of P10,000.

While Año “recognizes the contribution of our teachers as stewards of our youth’s future as much as we take cognizance of the hard work of our uniformed sector in protecting and securing our communities,” he also pointed out the need to prioritize the salaries of policemen and uniformed personnel who were not part of the last SSL as they lead “the war against criminality, illegal drugs, communist insurgency and other threats to peace and order and national security.”

The DILG chief, however, also emphasized that President Duterte recognizes the teachers’ noble service to the country.

“The President has spoken and the administration is committed to delivering a pay hike to our public school teachers but it cannot be done overnight,” Año explained.

“The Cabinet is now studying and looking for potential fund sources for the salary increase as directed by the President,” he added.

Año also called on officials and members of teachers’ groups to help the government improve the delivery of education to Filipino learners.