MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Appointments swiftly confirmed the ad interim appointment of Education Secretary Sonny Angara as a matter of courtesy, since he was a former member of the CA, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Senate President Francis Escudero, CA chairman, said courtesy was given to Angara during the proceedings since CA members already knew the Department of Education (DepEd) secretary.
“It’s not the first time it has been done and it is being done as a tradition. In the case of Secretary Angara, who used to be a legislator in the chamber, he was a senator when he was appointed. He was given a courtesy,” Escudero noted.
While the CA committee level proceedings took less than 10 minutes, the CA proceedings at the plenary lasted almost two hours as almost all members of the commission manifested praises for Angara and his appointment to the DepEd.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo, chairman of the CA committee on education, endorsed for plenary approval the ad interim appointment of Angara.
Sen. Grace Poe highlighted Angara’s credentials, saying he is a “seasoned legislator, budget expert and a law school lecturer.”
Cavite Second District Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla said appointing Angara as the new secretary of DepEd can bring changes that will improve the quality of education in the country.
Meanwhile, the newly-installed Education chief has signed the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the “Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act,” which entitles public school teachers with P10,000 teaching allowance starting next school year.
Under the law, teachers will receive a P10,000 teaching allowance every year starting SY 2025-2026 and for this SY 2024-2025, teachers would receive P5,000, tax free.
The IRR states that those eligible for teaching allowance also include guidance counselors, school librarians, industrial arts or vocational instructors and all other individuals performing supervisory or administrative functions in public schools.
Also included are alternative learning system teachers and coordinators.
The IRR also states that the teaching allowance shall be released “not earlier than the official start of every school year.”
Angara has also ordered all DepEd offices to fill all their vacant position to maximize the delivery of basic education services nationwide.
These include the newly created teaching and school-based non-teaching positions for fiscal year 2024.
Data from the Department of Budget and Management-Government Manpower Information System showed that as of May, DepEd has 46,703 vacant positions out of 1,030,897 total authorized positions which “can be attributed to several reasons based on gathered reports.”
DepEd also ordered all field offices to accomplish a catch-up plan, which can be downloaded through the link: bit.ly/UnfilledCatchUpPlan. – Neil Jayson Servallos
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