Letters to the Editor
Letters to the
editor are welcome on this page. Only those with complete name,
signature, contact number and return address for verification
shall be considered for publication, subject to editing and space
limitation when necessary - Editor-in-Chief.
X’mas gifts for
teachers
In these trying times, public school teachers, at least in this
city, have more reasons to hope that whatever entitlements due
them will finally be received at least in time for the Christmas
or the New Year.
One such entitlements is the DepEd anniversary bonus. The City
Division Office personnel, district supervisors and school
principals had allocated for themselves the full amount of P3,000
each. However, the classroom teachers, dubbed in the olden days as
the “unsung heroes”, got only a fractional share of P1,000 each.
That was in December last year. It’s almost a year now and the
lowly paid teachers have yet to receive the unpaid balance of
P2,000 each or even any official explanation, credible or
otherwise, as to what could have happened to the remaining funds
(about 2 million).
Another is their cost of living allowances (COLA). This year, only
their allowance for P400 per month for the first two quarters had
been released. Rumors have it that for the 3rd and 4th quarters,
their long-awaited entitlements would be distributed this
December. However, no rumor, much less any official update, on
their P350 per month COLA, which was reported to have been
withheld by the “re-invented” Naga City School Board pending the
“completion” of its so-called “performance-based” scheme, has been
floated around.
For this year’s unreleased COLA alone, each teacher would have
become “rich” by as much as P6,600. And, if the unpaid (despite
pre-signed payroll vouchers) entitlements for 3 quarters of last
year were to be counted, another P3,150, if finally paid, would
have helped make this Yuletide season really joyous for each
of the city’s underpaid and overworked mentors.
Would some exceptional gods in a greed and graft-ridden
bureaucracy care to play “Santa Claus” and finally give the long
suffering masses whatever due them, at least this Christmas?
MANUEL A. COLLAO, via e-mail.
