Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones on Monday disclosed that the Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) failed to comply with and submit on time the requirements for the downloading of vouchers for its Senior High School (SHS) students under the K to 12 Program.
This, in turn, resulted in the delay of the DepEd’s downloading of the vouchers to NORSU because the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had to recall the allocation in October, the Cabinet secretary further disclosed in a telephone interview.
Sec. Briones lamented it was unfair that DepEd was being “attacked” on social media for not attending to the plight of the unpaid NORSU part-time teachers.
Briones’ explanation comes as at least 24 part-time Senior High School teachers of NORSU still have not been paid their wages for almost seven months now since the first semester, starting in June of this year.
To recall, the NORSU administration had given several explanations as to why it could not pay their SHS part-time teachers.
SHS principal Carlou Bernaldez, who took over the position only in July, had first said that NORSU still had to finish the “encoding” of the senior high students as a requirement of DepEd.
Next, he disclosed that the SHS part-time teachers’ salaries were to be charged to the DepEd vouchers because it had no allocation in NORSU’s budget.
In succeeding events, other explanations included the NORSU’s Board of Regents having to apply for a separate Land Bank account for the DepEd vouchers, as well as having to find P10,000 as maintaining balance for the said account.
As the months dragged on, NORSU went on to say that they could not advance from the university’s funds the salaries of these unpaid teachers for “fear” of being charged with technical malversation.
NORSU said they had consulted with the Commission on Audit who in turn said the former is not authorized use its Special Trust Fund for such purpose.
And in a recent statement, the NORSU said they were doing its best to find ways to resolve the issue, with its latest explanation that the DepEd had not yet downloaded the vouchers intended for the state university.
But, according to Sec. Briones, it was only in October that NORSU had submitted its requirements to DepEd, and by that time the DBM had already recalled the money for NORSU.
Briones explained that if NORSU had complied with the requirements earlier, the DepEd would have had also downloaded immediately what was due the only state university in Negros Oriental.
She also lamented social media posts that blamed DepEd for the problem, pointing out that NORSU ought to be held responsible instead for the delay in the teachers’ wages.
If there was a delay in the process at the DepEd Central Office that would be because of NORSU’s late submission of the requirements, Briones said.
She disclosed she has been barraged with questions during regional and other DepEd meetings regarding the plight of the unpaid mentors of NORSU.
Sec. Briones further disclosed that upon checking with one of her Undersecretaries as of December 5, it was learned that DepEd had already downloaded P14-million intended for the four NORSU campuses. (PNA/ JFP)
