An organization of teachers on Friday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to look into complaints of some staff for its “DepEd TV” who alleged that they have yet to receive their salaries months after they started working.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines called the attention of the DepEd on the reports it received regarding “employment problems” experienced by some staff for DepEd TV.
ACT said that the majority of the personnel contracted for Deped TV “have not even received their first salary, with some employed as far back as September this year.”
“They took the job for economic gain, especially with the crisis amid the pandemic,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said. “It is the height of injustice to make them suffer due to government’s neglect and ineptitude,” he added.
ACT said that these DepEd TV employees were “contracted by a private third party manpower agency” and have yet to receive any form of payment for the services they have rendered due to “DepEd’s failure to pay the agency.”
According to reports, the DepEd management reasoned out that the budget for DepEd TV program is not included in the agency’s 2020 budget and will only be funded once the 2021 National Budget is released. Until then, the agency is relying on the financial support coming from the private sector.
“The violation of labor rights of DepEd TV staff is unspeakable,” Basilio said. “For months these hapless employees were producing output through their own means— their own computers, internet and electricity expenses—under the work-from-home set-up, but they were not getting any for all their work,” he added.
DepEd has yet to issue an official statement on this matter.