THREE lawmakers urged the Committee on Basic Education and Culture of the House of Representatives to immediately investigate, in aid of legislation, the alleged maternity leave pay anomaly involving some employees of the Department of Education in Taguig City and Pateros.

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raoul Manuel filed House Resolution 666 calling for an inquiry into the matter.

The resolution cited the statement of Dr. Ellery Quintia, chief of the Curriculum Implementation of the Division of DepEd-Taguig City and Pateros, that one teacher received, from 2016 to 2019, amounts ranging from P35,000 to P61,000 by filing 11 maternity leaves in a span of three years.

Quintia said that in 2019, the accountant and bookkeeper in charge noticed the anomalous filing of several maternity leaves and filed a joint report regarding the matter.

But it was only in 2021 that Quintia discovered the said issue and decided to reveal the anomaly.

Based on the documents from the DepEd’s finance department, the persons behind the scheme received money on several dates from February 2016 to August 2018 amounting to almost P497,000.

The teacher identified in the documents denied the allegations, claiming that she has not filed maternity leaves since she began teaching in 1999.

The teacher said that she was separated from her husband and does not have any children.

The lawmakers want those behind the anomaly to be made accountable .

“As the diverted money came from the taxes of the people, it is fitting that we should find the persons or officials behind this scam and implicate all those who benefited from it,” they said in their resolution.