A group of education workers on Friday, Oct. 1, sought the intervention of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) amid the the “failure” of the Department of Education (DepEd) to release the guidelines for the grant of service credits for public school teachers’ overtime work in the last school year.
“We need the CSC to back us up in holding the DepEd accountable for its failure to pay our teachers’ overtime work, which we all have recognized and agreed upon,” said Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines Secretary General Raymond Basilio.
Members of ACT trooped to the CSC to press the agency to conduct an “intervention’” after DepEd “failed” to deliver what was as agreed upon during a multi-party dialogue attended by ACT, CSC, DepEd, and ACT Teachers Partylist last June 24.
“It is dishonorable for public officials to go back on their words and turn their backs on education frontliners who have gone beyond their duties to ensure education continuity in the midst of a pandemic,” Basilio said.
During the said meeting, ACT said that it was also agreed upon that the DepEd will consult with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the funding of public-school teachers’ 25% percent overtime premium.
In a letter sent to the CSC on Sept. 30, ACT group once again urged the agency to provide “direct and opportune intervention” and guarantee that the 87 days of overtime work rendered from June 1 to Oct. 3, 2020 by teachers will be “properly compensated.”
Basilio said that that for months “we have been reaching out to both agencies in hopes of addressing the pressing issue, and it is saddening that S.Y. 2021–2022 has already started and teachers are again faced with new and heavier sets of workloads, while they are yet to be justly compensated for last school year.”
Moreover, Basilio alleged that DepEd memorandum no. 56, series of 2021 -- which suspended the 15-day per year limit on the grant of service credits for SY 2020-2021 but only allowed the expansion of service credit on services rendered during weekends and holidays -- is “deceptive and unjust.”
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/09/30/teachers-allowable-service-credits-for-sy-2020-2021-expanded-deped/
Given this, ACT urged the CSC to put its foot down and take favorable actions in support of our public school teachers. “Otherwise, we will be forced to take matters into our own hands and claim what is due us and demand for our rights,” Basilio warned.