Regionalizing DepEd’s payroll office: Almost an impossible dream

When former Cebu first district Rep. Jose Gullas filed House Bill 2542 in August 2001, he was warned by his colleagues that he would meet stiff opposition from various sectors.

In fact, they told him several influential legislators would immediately strike down his bill once it was filed. Undaunted, he resolutely pushed his bill and passionately argued for its approval in a series of hearings conducted by Rep. Edmundo Reyes Jr., chairman of the House committee on basic education.

Gullas was very persuasive in his appeal because no less than 108 legislators agreed to co-author his bill.

On March 13, 2002, the basic education committee approved the bill and on Sept. 4, it was submitted to the office of Speaker Jose de Venecia, who facilitated its approval by the House. The following month, the bill was transmitted to the Senate.

Meanwhile, Gullas did an extensive advocacy campaign. The organization of school superintendents and public school teachers sent supportive resolutions to the members of Congress, to the Office of the President and to then Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus.

Not content, Gullas organized lobby groups composed of regional directors, superintendents and officials of teachers’ organizations, and personally led them to the Senate.

When the bill remained untouched in the Senate, Gullas sought the help of President Arroyo when she visited Cebu in September 2003, made personal visits to the education secretary, and badgered a number of key officials, including then Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo with calls. Gullas was not to be denied.

And then, Congress passed the General Appropriations Act of 2003 with the salient provisions of the Gullas bill inserted.

Toward the end of 2003, De Jesus, through the persistent proddings of Gullas, decided to implement the Gullas bill through an administrative order. He designated Undersecretary Juan Miguel Luz as the point man for its implementation.

Region 7 was not initially listed as a priority region for want of equipment and safety storage area. But Gullas set aside P900,000 from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for the purchase of the necessary equipment to ensure the opening of the first decentralized payroll office in the country.

At exactly 10:50 a.m. of June 22 last year, the Department of Education-Region 7 printed the first 30 salary checks of public elementary school teachers in Cebu in the presence of no less than President Arroyo, the guest of honor in the inauguration of the decentralized payroll office.

For the education department’s half-a-million employees, this was a historic moment. In one simple ceremony, half a century of pain, inconvenience and heartaches was brought to an end by a neophyte congressman who dared to do what no one has done before — regionalize the payroll office, thus making a seemingly impossible dream possible.