THE COMMISSION on Higher Education lauded lawmakers for agreeing to provide a one-time cash aid to teachers who did not receive government assistance in the previous Bayanihan bill.

“We have been aggressively pushing for this financial assistance. CHED informed the Inter-Agency Task Force as early as May 2020, and  informed the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Higher Education that teachers were among the hardest hit by the pandemic specially part-time teachers who are in No Teach, No Pay status. They were not included in any social amelioration assistance since March 2020,” said CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III.

The Bayanihan 2 bill or ‘An Act Providing for Covid19 Response and Recovery Interventions and Providing Mechanism to Accelerate the Recovery and Bolster the Resiliency of the Philippine Economy, providing funds therefor, and for other purposes’ addresses this gap  by providing for a one-time cash assistance to  displaced teaching and non-teaching personnel including part-time  faculty or non-permanent teaching personnel, in private and public  elementary, secondary and tertiary education institutions including part-time faculty in SUCs who have lost their jobs or who have not received their wages.

“The Commission commends the education champions in both the House and Senate who supported the call of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations and the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges as manifested by CHED in the committee hearings. These include Representatives Mark Go, Evelina Escudero, Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado, Frederick Siao, Junie Cua, Luisa Cuaresma, Eduardo Gullas, Vilma Santos-Recto, Ann Hofer, Ansaruddin Adiong, Ramon Nolasco, Stella Quimbo, Maria Fe Abunda, Shirlyn Banas-Nograles, Mario Vittorio Marino, Joseph Lara, Estrellita Suansing, Jose Enrique Garcia III, Allan Benedict Reyes, Glona Labadlabad, Maximo Dalog, Jr., Ronnie Ong, Rogelio Pacquiao, Jesus Suntay, Paul Daza, Senators Bong Go, Joel Villanueva, Pia Cayetano, and Sonny Angara; and the leadership of the House and Senate, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano,” De Vera said.

The Commission also commended the private and public higher education institution associations, particularly COCOPEA and PASUC for fighting for the assistance for faculty members and helping CHED identify and compute the needed funding for the action of the Congress.

“We know the funds are limited and that we cannot fully compensate for their lost income during the pandemic, but that this small assistance is President Rodrigo Duterte’s promise to give some form of assistance for the heroic efforts of our teachers who continued to teach students using flexible learning during the pandemic,” De Vera said.