THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers National Capital Region Union on Friday denounced the Department of Education for not fulfilling its promise to pay the overtime work rendered by public school teachers from June 1 to October 4, 2020.

The group also sought the repeal of the memorandum on Proportional Vacation Pay issued by the department that stipulated the computation of teachers’ proportional vacation pay for School Year 2020-2021.

“DepEd should just scrap out that multiplier factor and totally refrain from deducting teachers’ salaries at least for this fiscal year, especially that they still have an outstanding debt to teachers i.e. the unpaid overtime pay. More importantly, government agencies should be compassionate in this time of pandemic when everybody are financially struggling,” ACT NCR Union President Vladimer Quetua said.

In a dialogue with key officials from DepEd and the Civil Service Commission, Quetua said that teachers worked and had to defray expenses June 1 to October 5, 2020, a period when the school year had not officially opened but teachers were asked to write self-learning modules at their own personal expense and without relevant training.

Throughout the school year, teachers also attended countless webinars and prepared tons of paperwork, expenses of which mostly came out from their own pockets, Quetua said.

“Will it be another case of ‘thank you?’ Ganun na lang ba palagi? Sa lahat na lang ng bagay, parati na lang abunado si teacher. DepEd, mahiya naman kayo! It is the teachers who literally shouldered your so-called Learning Continuity Plan!” he added.