School teachers hold lightning rally at DepEd

At least 50 members of the Manila Public School Teachers Association Inc., (MPSTA) held a lightning rally yesterday in front the Department of Education (DepEd) compound in Pasig City to demand the speedy reconciliation of their service records with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

The militant teachers’ group said the GSIS funded the reconciliation proceedings last 2004 by turning over P17.2 million to DepEd officials.

“Despite this, the plight of the teachers in GSIS remained the same because the department has been updating records quite slowly,” MPSTA president Medardo Mercado said.

During the rally, the MPSTA members urged Education Secretary Jesli Lapus to prioritize the reconciliation of teachers’ service records.

Mercado said there are two  kinds of teachers’ records: DepEd personnel service records (PSR) and GSIS membership service profile (MSP).

These two records, according to Mercado, need to be reconciled or else teachers will encounter problems with their claims and benefits.

The teachers’ group lamented that DepEd seemed to be neglecting their basic duty of ensuring the teachers with a reliable record system.

The protesters demanded that their service records be free from discrepancy because “these are being used as basis in all GSIS transactions by the teachers, particularly in their benefit claims.”   – Non Alquitran