DepEd denies claims of alleged unpaid salaries of TV staff

On Friday, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to look into alleged complaints of some staff claiming that they have yet to receive their salaries months after they started working DepEd TV.

ACT said that the majority of the personnel contracted for Deped TV have not even received their first salary, with some employed as far back as September this year.

Following the issue, on Monday, DepEd denied the allegations.

Undersecretary for administration Alain Pasuca explained that TV host Paolo Bediones, through his company Ei2Tech, offered to train DepEd teachers and personnel in the production of TV lessons for free as a proof of concept. The company contracted over 400 professionals and suppliers from various networks gravely affected by the pandemic to produce a specific number of episodes.

Pascua said that the arrangement between the company and the hired professionals was output-based or dependent on a specific number of episodes for all the contractors.

Allegations relative to Ei2Tech workers not receiving salaries are baseless because, as per Ei2Tech, there is no employer-employee relationship,

he added.

Pascua said Ei2Tech reported that there have been delays in the processing of full payments for contractors who have completed their required outputs.

And of the 400 workers hired by Ei2Tech, less than 10 have not received any payments because they either resigned, have unprocessed bank accounts, have no existing official receipts for proper liquidation, or have not turned over their unfinished output, Pascua said.

Annalyn Sevilla, DepEd’s undersecretary for finance, said the department has been regularly paying its personnel who are engaged in DepEd TV, but it could not pay those under Ei2Tech.

Sevilla said that the process to pay workers outside DepEd needs to undergo procurement and that the staff who allegedly said they are not paid are not employed by DepEd.

Our engagement with Ei2Tech was first on voluntary basis. And now that there is intention to continue its services, it will undergo procurement, and our payment to them will be based on outputs… We cannot pay salary to its employees,

she said.

Last week, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers called the attention of the department after receiving reports that some DepEd TV staff under Ei2Tech have not been receiving their salaries.

DepEd TV was launched this year as part of the government’s distance learning mode in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.