Senator Win Gatchalian is calling on the Department of Labor and Employment to accelerate the distribution of financial aid to teachers and non-teaching personnel under the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act or Bayanihan 2.
He says displaced teachers and non-teaching staff have waited long enough to receive their aid.
“What’s the reason for the delay of assistance to our teachers?” asked the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture who said the education sector should have been prioritized because it was one of the most battered by the COVID-19.
Bayanihan 2, which was signed in September 2020, allotted P300 million to provide a one-time cash assistance to displaced teaching and non-teaching personnel in private and public elementary, secondary and tertiary education institutions.
Part-time faculty in State Universities and Colleges who have lost their jobs or who have not received their wages are also entitled to receive these subsidies.
In the basic sector education alone, some 4,488 teachers are affected by the suspension of operations in 865 private schools, the Department of Education reported last September.
The Commission on Higher Education also reported last May that some 50,000 part-time lecturers of private colleges and universities working on a “no work, no pay basis” need financial aid.
While Gatchalian admits that the funds are not enough to ease the burden of displaced teachers and non-teaching staff, he urged DOLE to iron out the final guidelines with CHED and DepEd to avoid the same woes as the distribution of aid under the Social Amelioration Program.
Last December, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11519, which extends the validity of funds under Bayanihan 2.