Tinio: 20,000 faculty members on job orders despite years of teaching

MANILA, Philippines — More than 20,000 faculty members across the country are on “job order” and “contract of service” positions despite having taught at universities for several years.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio raised this concern during the House committee on appropriations’ budget hearing for the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) on Thursday.

Citing CHEd data, Tinio said that of the 67,663 faculty members in state universities and colleges (SUCs), 20,964 hold non-plantilla positions.

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READ: Tinio flags ‘low’ minimum salary for SUC instructors: ‘End injustice’

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“What can we do now to address it? Maybe not the 2,000 plantilla items, but even partially. What can we do?” Tinio asked CHEd Chairperson Shirley Agrupis during his interpellation.

Agrupis, citing CHEd’s limited budget, said that increasing tuition would enable SUCs to create more plantilla positions.

“Based on the 1 is to 40 [ratio], 1 faculty to 40 students, it would be easy to determine the plantilla positions needed,” she explained.

She also said during the budget hearing that the proposed tuition increase would help address funding deficiencies in tertiary education.

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Tinio expressed his support for the proposal, particularly to address funding gaps in SUCs.

“I may be saying this only now, but we favor tuition increases in state universities. Let’s just make it clear: students are not charged if that is not the basis for the government subsidy. That’s why it was very important,” he said.

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The lawmaker asked CHEd for data on the number of plantilla positions that could be created in exchange for the proposed tuition increase in SUCs.

READ: CHEd laments 50% cut in 2027 NEP from proposed budget

Agrupis committed to providing the data before the start of the House plenary.

“So, we have two fights: increasing tuition [and] creating additional plantilla items,” Tinio said.

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CHEd is seeking a P70.2-billion budget for 2027, but the Department of Budget and Management has recommended lowering the amount to P35.45 billion in the National Expenditure Program. /mcm