Members of a federation of teachers on Tuesday trooped to the Department of Education (DepEd) Central Office to demand aid and accountability for education as well as for their colleagues in areas hit by calamities.
Teacher-leaders of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) delivered a “demand letter” and held a picket-protest at DepEd Central Office in Pasig City to urge the agency to response to the needs of education and stakeholders in Bicol, Southern Tagalog, National Capital Region, Central Luzon and Cagayan which were hardly-hit by typhoons last month.
The group expressed dissatisfaction with the DepEd’s actions regarding the release of teachers’ benefits and denounced the government’s “neglect of teachers’ welfare” due to delayed and long-overdue benefits.
“This government does not run out of ways to burden our teachers,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said in Filipino. “Last year was very sad for our teachers because they had to bear the cost of education despite the pandemic and various calamities, the first month of the new year is coming to an end but the government is still squandering the benefits of our teachers,” he added.
Members of ACT held a picket and demanded that agency officials talk to them as the group’s written request for a dialogue sent last week remained unanswered. The group also presented its 5-point concrete demands to bring relief to learners, teachers and employees, and press the agency to be accountable to the many problems on education continuity that the calamity victims face.
The teachers demanded a dialogue following the “unclear and non-committal” written response from the department to its earlier letter itemizing the problems that teachers encountered in relation to the payment of P300 monthly communication reimbursement for 2020, the Service Recognition Incentive of 2020 (SRI 2020), and Performance-based Bonus of 2019 (PBB 2019).
The group also posted at the DepEd Central Office gates a giant notice demanding payment from the agency to demonstrate the urgency of their demands and press accountability for its continuous neglect of teachers' welfare.
The DepEd announced last week that it can only pay up to P6,190 for the SRI 2020 of its employees despite the mandated P10,000 amount. ACT said that the agency has yet to respond to the teachers’ complaints regarding the “unjust and burdensome’ reimbursement process for communication expense reimbursement, as well as on the certainty and timeframe of the release of PBB 2019.
“The government’s failure to meet its financial obligations to our teachers is already taking a great toll on the economic situation of our mentor,” Basilio said.
ACT noted that the “gravely delayed and decreased benefits” pose problems to teachers as they have already sought loans to make ends meet while they anticipate the full and timely release of their benefits.
“It’s a grave insult to our teacher to have to continuously beg for something that should be theirs in the first place, no questions asked,” Basilio said. “Time and again our teachers have gone beyond their call of duty just to be able to provide continuous and quality education to our young learners. All they get in exchange, however, is more debts because the neglectful government would not pay up,” he added.
Basilio also criticized that even the salary adjustment for 2021 - which should have been effected starting this month - has “not yet been received by the teachers,” noting that teachers have nothing left to shell out amid the soaring prices of basic commodities.
ACT said that the government should give what the teachers deserve especially at this time of pandemic. “These are the fruit of their hard-earned labor and like any other, it should be compensated fairly,” Basilio ended.