THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers-National Capital Region Union staged a Halloween-themed protest at the Department of Education to criticize the agency’s “trick or threat” handling of teachers’ demand for overtime compensation and other benefits.

“Habang ala-zombie na ang mga guro sa walang-tigil na patrabaho ng DepEd o mga manananggal na halos hatiin ang katawan sa dami ng gawain, para namang si Kamatayan ang ahensiya sa pilit nitong paglilibing sa limot ng kanyang tungkulin sa wastong kompensasyon, proteksiyon, at kalinga sa mga guro at kawani,” ACT NCR Union President Vladimer Quetua said.

The group hit the agency for reneging on its commitment that teachers will be compensated for “no less than 87 days” of overtime in the last school year.

Previously, the group threatened to do a mass leave if DepEd will not release their overtime pay by October 5, the celebration of World Teachers’ Day.

However, DepEd said that the demand has “no legal basis” and issued a “thinly veiled threat” against teachers who will participate in the mass leave, ACT said.

“In yet another dialogue held yesterday between ACT, ACT Teachers Partylist, CSC, DBM, and DepEd, our mother agency maintained their absurd position of outrightly denying excess work days in the last school year. They, however, remained unable to present their legal bases for claiming that services rendered by teachers beyond the 220 maximum allowable class days by law are considered ‘regular work days.’ It almost sounded like a ‘because we said so’-power trip. Mag-uundas na, pero parang walang kaluluwa ang mga opisyales ng DepEd,” Quetua lamented.

ACT said it stands by its promise of staging a mass leave soon.

The group said it will continue to fight for overtime compensation, which by their computations, amount to 77 days of service credits and an overtime pay of 25 percent premium for 77 days.

“We call on relevant government agencies and bodies to act on the side of your education frontliners. Teachers have been undervalued and neglected for far too long. We have responded diligently to the needs of our nation, it’s time you respond to ours,” Quetua said.