Teachers want to know status of disallowed COLA payment

CEBU, Philippines — After paying the disallowance from the Commission on Audit (COA) for their Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA), teachers under the Department of Education (DepEd) in Cebu City are seeking clarification on their payment status through a resolution by a city legislator.

Councilor Nestor Archival Sr. presented this resolution, which the City Council approved during its most recent session. Archival explained to The Freeman in an interview yesterday that a group of public school teachers approached his office with their concerns.

In 2016, the COA disallowed the P10,000 COLA for public teachers from January to December 2015, amounting to P80.2 million. According to Archival, since 2018, teachers who received the COLA have been deducted P5,000 annually from their salaries to account for the disallowed amount.

"Ang nahitabo man gud kay nasugdan silag 2018 og deduct nya until now, nag sige pa man og deduct. Kung P10,000 ra (disallowed COLA), nahuman na," said Archival.

To address this, Archival’s resolution seeks a comprehensive report from the City Accounting Office detailing the status of the payments made by affected DepEd teachers in Cebu City, including the payment amounts, teacher names, and payment dates.

Additionally, another approved resolution by Archival requests the same list from the DepEd Cebu City Division and Local School. This list should include each teacher's area of assignment and current employment status.

"Nagsige man sila og minus karon mao ng naguol sila kay wa may sumada, wa man sila kabalo pilay gi minus totally, nya pila nalang sad ilang nahatag, which is sa ilang gitan-awn nakahatag na siguro sila og P25,000 or P20,000," Archival added.

He noted that if these teachers started paying in 2018, it has been seven years now that they are still covering the P10,000 disallowed COLA, saying that if these teachers are still deducted with P5,000 per year, the deduction would have totaled P35,000 in seven years.

Archival’s resolution highlights that the COA's October 20, 2016 report disallowed the COLA due to a "lack of merit due to the provisions of applicable laws, rules, and regulations" presented by the city.

The same resolution disclosed that the disbursement of the teachers' COLA and Hardship Allowance in 2015 was charged to the Special Education Fund, which is not authorized under existing laws prohibiting such grants.

A citation from Section 12 of Republic Act No. 6758, also known as the Compensation and Position Classification Act, states that any "additional compensation for teachers is already integrated into their standardized salary rates."

Back then, the resolution noted that at least 8,000 teachers benefited from the financial assistance.

“Nya gusto sad nato mahibaw-an pila na ilang nabayad kay atong i-sink ngadto sa records sa City Treasurer’s Office kay para atong mga maestra makasabot na pila man gyud gi-minus sa ila,” Archival added. (CEBU NEWS)