Massacre aftermath:Teachers, easy targets for loan sharks

By Liezle BasaInigo

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- That a public school teacher like Linda Sison had to resort to taking out loans with exorbitant interests just to augment her meager income is, in itself, a tragedy of the country’s educational system.

Sadly, for Sison who was said to have racked up loans totaling over P250,000, she had to pay with her life in the hands of the loan shark, himself, PO3 Domino Alipio.

Last Sept. 1, Alipio, armed with a .45-caliber pistol, a carbin rifle and a hand grenade, went on a shooting rampage at the Pangasinan National High School (PNHS), killing Sison, two co-teachers and a man said to be the policeman’s collector and injuring three others.

Alipio, a policeman assigned with the Anda Municipal Police Station here, had reportedly gone berserk after failing to collect on mounting debts by some PNHS teachers and personnel and suspecting that Florenda Flores, a teachers from Labrador, and his collector Jonalito Urayan were in cahoots for not remitting collections. Flores and Urayan were the first ones that Alipio gunned down. He has since been transferred detention from Lingayen to a facility of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Dagupan City.

In the aftermath of the incident, it has now become more evident that public school teachers continue to be among the country’s lowest-paid government workers.

Lorena Barongan Echalar, an instructor at the Pangasinan State University (PSU) in San Carlos City, admits she had been force to take out loans, sell beauty products and even do private tutoring well into the night just to make ends meet.

“Kung mayroon lang sana ng sapat na suweldo ay hindi ko naaabut nang gabi sa lansangan at mapahamak (If only the salary is enough, I don’t have to stay out late and be exposed to danger).

Kulang pa rin ang kita kaya hindi na maiwasan na ang mga guro ay makapangutang lalo na may mga pangangailangan din ang pamilya at dagdag pa kung may emergency napagkagastosan (the salary is not enough that is why we borrow, worse if there are emergencies that requires money),” Lorena narrated.

Cheryl Bauzon, a Home Economics teacher at Calasiao Comprehensive National High School said obtaining loans had become a normal thing among their ranks. She also bakes cakes on Fridays and sells them.

“Tuwing Friday lang ako puwede tumanggap ng order at iyon ang maluwag naman sa akin. Maliit na kita pero masaya ka naman sa iyong ginagawa (I only take orders on Fridays because that’s when I’m free. I earn a little but I’m happy with what I’m doing), Cheryl said.

With such a meager income and the rising costs of living, teachers fall easy prey to loan sharks who charge as high as 10 percent interest.

Worse, teachers here draw their salaries only once-a-month and not bi-monthly as is the regular practice that only makes them all the more incapable of keeping up with their budgets.

As such, it no longer befuddles why Sison and 38 other co-teachers at the PNHS took out loans totaling more than P3 million with Alipio.

There is a pending bill in the Senate, sponsored by Senators Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes IV and Loren Legarda, proposing salary increase for the more than 500,000 public school from the current P18,549 to P35,567.

If the measure passes, the government will be spending P219 billion annually on teachers’ salaries, an additional cost that could go a long way in alleviating the plight of public school teachers and ultimately save lives that shouldn’t have been lost – like Sison’s.