Gordon's promise: P40,000 salary for teachers

MANILA, Philippines - Presidential candidate Richard Gordon claims he's got big perks for students and teachers if he wins in the 2010 election.

In ANC's Youth 2010 presidential forum held at De La Salle University in Taft on Friday, Gordon promised free Kindle e-book readers for public school students and P40,000 in monthly salaries for teachers should he be elected president.

Current teacher's salaries, Gordon explained, are around P12,000 to P15,000 a month, compared to P122,000 a month for teachers in Singapore.

"Gusto ko, P40,000 ang suweldo ng teacher kaagad in the next 6 years. (I want to raise teacher's salaries to P40,000 in the next 6 years)," Gordon said.

Raising teacher's salaries, he said, will attract skilled graduates to teach in schools.

Skilled teachers can raise students' academic performance even at the kindergarten or elementary grade levels, Gordon added.

E-books for All
He also mapped out a plan to fund a $1.7 billion (or P85 billion) project to give 17 million students a Kindle electronic book reader.

"You can get an electronic book where you can put in the entire curriculum of the school from grade school to college," the senator said.

Kindle, released by online book retailer Amazon.com, is a device that allows people to read digital versions of books. Gordon said it is priced at $100 wholesale.

To fund the Kindle project, Gordon said plans to cut down on corruption, which amounts to about 300 billion pesos.

If this does not work, he plans to improve mining, an industry reportedly worth $1-trillion, to give additional funding for the free e-book reader project.

If both do not work, Gordon said the quickest way to raise funds is through a "text for education" campaign, where P0.50 from every 2 billion text messages will be used to fund teacher's salaries and the Kindle project.

'Strong leadership'

Gordon and his Bagumbayan Party (composed of him and vice-presidential candidate Bayani Fernando) were also asked about the brand of leadership they offer.

Critics and political analysts have previously noted that Gordon and Bayani's strict and uncompromising leadership style is "dictatorial."

"I don't think Filipinos are ready for dictatorship, they are ready for Dick Gordon," the senator quipped. "However, I can tell you this. What we need is firm and fair leadership."

He said the country needs strong leaders who are clearly against corruption, focused on the country's problems, and are not willing to bend the rules for the Filipino elite or foreigners.

Some viewers who watched the forum told ABS-CBN News they were impressed by Gordon's articulate speeches and detailed plans for the presidency.

However, both Gordon and Fernando have yet to clinch support from the poor, who comprise the bulk of voters. Report by Kristine Servando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.