BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
“P50,000 per teacher item in Pangasinan” an excerpt of a national newspaper recently says.
It reported that before a teacher applicant gets the post she should shell-out first P10,000 to the principal who gives the sum to the school division superintendent for favorable ranking.
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ACT Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio (left) said
congress will investigate public school teachers and
their superiors in Pangasinan and other parts
of the country on the alleged teacher's item
for sale. |
“
May mga principal daw ang naniningil agad ng P10,000. Unang bayad pa lang iyan, para maendorso sa school division para mai-ranking, kung saan ang school superintendent naman ang magpapasya kung sino ang mga top-ranking applicant,” the source, who did not disclose the division where the superintendent is assigned, told Abante tabloid.
A new public school teacher receives almost P20, 000 a month.
Because of the complaint of a teacher from Binmaley, Pangasinan, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party list Rep. Antonio Tinio asks congress to investigate this alleged anomaly.
 |
Former Congressman and incumbent Board Member
Ranjit Ramos-Shahani (left) told blogger Mortz C.
Ortigoza that his powerful committee on education,
which he chairs,will investigate too the position
for sale in Pangasinan. |
“Somebody from Pangasinan came to my office and expose this anomaly,” Tinio said.
(You can access the entire story at http://www.abante.com.ph/issue/aug0413/news02.htm#.UgV9itLDAvx).
Consequently Board Member Ranjit Shahani, the new chair of the powerful education committee , coordinated with Tinio so he can investigate too the concerned individuals at the Department of Education about the veracity of this report.
Go Ranjit man, show some balls!
Politicians in a town have axe to grind against the principal
The mayor and the vice mayor of a Central Pangasinan town have axe to grind against the principal of the biggest high school in their town and one of the biggest secondary schools in the province.
“We are politicians and we owe our debts to our leaders (in the villages). Thus we recommend their children as (licensed) teachers to that school. But she (principal in that school) withheld the items from us,” the influential vice mayor told me.
Now that the principal is going to be promoted and assigned at the division office of the Department of Education, the smarting politician promised the principal of the 2nd biggest high school in the town to occupy the soon to be vacant post.
But the mayor and the vice mayor have another problem. The lady principal of the 3rd biggest high school is ruining their plan. She is hell-bent on applying for the post of the biggest secondary school of the town in the division office in Lingayen despite the pledge of the two leaders that she gets the position of the 2nd biggest school.
“In case she persisted, she will get our ire,” the vice mayor warned.
The vice mayor told me whether she likes it or not the post of the principal of the biggest comprehensive high school would still need his and the mayor’s imprimatur.
A source who asked anonymity explained to me that a principal who go against the power- that- be at the municipal level could be deprived of the Special Education Fund of the municipality whose allocation is at the discretion of the mayor.
Corrupt DepEd principals pocket the MOOE
“What’s the big deal for this jockeying?” I posed.
The high school has more than 5000 students. It means P50 thousand to P100 thousand a month from the DepEd’s version of a Pork Barrel called MOOE (Maintenance & Other Operating Expenses).
MOoE is susceptible to corruption by school principals. That’s why many of them want to retain their post than be promoted to supervisor because of the windfall the post of a principal gives them.
Here is an example how a corrupt principal raided the MOOE: For instance a principal in Lingayen, Pangasinan asks a supplier to issue him/her an official receipt minus the sum where the principal has discretion to scribble the price of, say, low quality identification card.
She puts P25 for an ID that costs only 13 pesos.
With 5000 students, it means he/she goes to the bank laughing with P60 thousand loot.
Susmariosep, who says that working at DepEd is a bane?
Dep Ed Central Office withholds teachers' quota from Division Superintendents so they can not sell them
The names for new positions for teachers given by Sec. Luistro to Dep Ed ¬are now mostly coursed through congressmen instead of the division offices of the education department.
This new policy is to avoid corrupt division superintendents who sell these new items to willing teacher applicants.
According to my source, Dep Ed central office finds it safe to give these quotas to congressmen.
My other source told me that a school superintendent could sell each item up to P135 thousand to P150 thousand for an applicant.
But if it is given to a solon, the lawmakers would just give it to the son or daughter of his supporter who are board passer and who are included on the rank’s lists of principals.
He said that bigwigs at DepEd central office know that these applicant- protégée of the solons are not fleeced — even if they are listed at the bottom part of the ranking of their application.
Under the”
Matuwid na Daan (Straight Path)” of President Benigno Aquino, Jr., a congressman is given up to 50 quota while a superintendent is given only a measly ten quota for new positions.
A division that covers up to four congressional districts is given up to 200 new positions through the lawmakers.
A lowest rank public school teacher now receives P19 thousand a month pay.
With a bill now being deliberated in congress, this amount would balloon to P32 thousand a month, according to a high ranking education official.
With a handsome sums dangled to would-be applicant in the public school, vultures like these superintendents and principals proliferate.
(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns athttp://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too attotomortz@yahoo.com).
