Teachers to DepEd: Pay P700 M ‘over and above allowance’

Public school teachers will stage a rally at the Department of Education central office in Pasig City today to demand that the DepEd pay the “over and above allowance” or OAA, a benefit that they claim has not been issued since 1989.

Melchor Cayabyab, secretary general of the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), said they at least 2,000 public school teachers will be at the rally to demand the OAA.

Cayabyab said the DepEd should have issued the OAA to teachers in Metro Manila, Region 3, 4 and 7 starting July 1, 1989 to take the place of the allowance received they used to receive from their respective local government units.

The teachers stopped receiving the allowance from the local government units upon the enactment of Republic Act 6758 otherwise known as the Salary Standardization Law.

Cayabyab said the OAA due 5,000 public school teachers in the four regions has reached P700 million. He said that following protest actions, the Department of Budget and Management issued National Budget Circular 458-A in January 1999 to set guidelines and allocate P490 million for payment of the OAA.

However, the OAA was not issued when the DepEd questioned the legitimacy of the allowance. The DBM settled the issue when it declared the OAA legal, valid and legitimate and reiterated that payment should be made by the DepEd division offices.