THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers blasted the Department of Education’s “turtle-paced response” in addressing teachers’ demand for benefits and salaries upgrade.

“The school year is about to end but our teachers have yet to receive proper compensation for their services. Sa dami ng mga pangako ng gobyerno sa ating mga guro, halos wala man lang silang ginhawang natanggap sa buong taon. Kung meron man, ito’y kulang-kulang, patak-patak o di kaya’y sobra-sobra sa pagkadelayed,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

Basilio said that DepEd is notorious for its “lies” and “incompetence” as its officials made empty promises throughout the school year such as the 100 gigabytes connectivity load for teachers and personnel, the procurement of laptop for teachers, the overly delayed release of the P300 monthly communication reimbursement expenses for 2020 and the perfomance-based bonus for 2019.

ACT claimed that DepEd’s long list of “debts” also include the 25 percent overtime pay and service credits which was discussed during the dialogue between ACT, DepEd, and the Civil Service Commission on 24 June, 2021.

“Tapos na ang school year pero nasaan na ang mga ipinangako ng DepEd? Sa dami ng hinihingi ng ahensiya sa ating mga guro mula sa walang katapusang requirements at deadlines hanggang sa pagsalo sa mga kapalpakan nito, not once did they ‘timely’ and ‘competently’ respond to teachers’ woes. Kung mabibigyan lang ng final grade ng mga guro ang gobyerno, isang mapulang ‘F’ na marka ang ibibigay nila dito!” Basilio said.

Basilio added that the “biggest lie of them all” was President Duterte’s promise of a salary upgrade for teachers during his campaign in 2016.

“We were promised a commensurate salaries upgrade but what we got was a deceitful Salary Standardization Law V. The education sector has been continuously scammed by the Duterte administration, but teachers are good at taking notes and we will not stop until we have fully collected the government’s long-standing debts,” he said.