DepEd official says no budget alloted for the treatment of COVID-19 infected teachers

On Monday, the Department of Education (DepEd) said that it has no budget allotted for the treatment of teachers who contracts COVID-19. 

Photo credit: depedtambayan.org

When asked how the DepEd is helping its personnel who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, Education Undersecretary for finance Anne Sevilla told reporters in a Viber message,

COVID medication and treatment funding budgets are not present or appropriated in the existing budget of DepEd. And I think it is true for all national government agencies, 

DepEd funds are allotted for the supplies needed for the compliance with minimum health standards said Sevilla.

For those employees who opted to be treated in private hospitals, they also got assistance from DepEd but not from the government funds but from the personal contributions and collective efforts of the DepEd family,

Sevilla said on Tuesday that her statement yesterday that there's no budget alloted for infected teachers was a specific reply to the demands.

It is only [the] DOH (Department of Health) which has mandate to use government funds for hospitalization and treatment. This is a policy that should also be raised to DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and COA (Commission on Audit) because even if we want to assist and support our employees, we don’t have budget [to] cover and authority to use DepEd budget for such,

Sevilla, however, noted that all government employees, including DepEd employees, are covered by PhilHealth.

Earlier reports said that some teachers have been infected with the virus while being asked to report physically in schools despite the increasing cases of COVID-19. Some teacher's group have demanded assistance of treatment since then. 

Raymond Basilio, secretary general of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, said in a statement on August 8,

We’ve been in and out of schools and learners’ communities since June, but DepEd still refuses to ensure screening before reporting, mass testing, and full treatment subsidy for infected personnel – costing already the health and lives of one too many teachers and staff.

Data on the number of teachers who were infected by the coronavirus has been demanded by the teachers group to be released but DepEd had been silent about it.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier said that classes would open on August 24 despite calls to delay classes for teachers to have more time to prepare.