SOME 66 teachers from the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) filed before the Office of the Ombudsman a class suit against two officials of the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) for supposedly disallowing their promotion.
The complaint was filed against Ched-Northern Mindanao director Raul Alvarez Jr. and Ched Commissioner Ronald Adamat on Friday, December 20, 2019.
Alvarez Jr. was accused of grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Official and Ignorance of the Law, while Adamat was charged with violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard of Public Official and Ignorance of the Law.
Efren Mercado, Instructor I at USTP, said he and 191 other USTP teachers were up for promotion in 2016 but he and 65 others were dropped from the list.
Mercado, who has been with USTP for three years, said they were shocked when they learned that they were dropped from the list. He said the list had been approved by the university’s Board of Regents and signed by Adamat on December 13, 2019.
Mercado said that to make matters worse, there was no explanation from the Ched officials.
He said they learned that Adamat had sought to retract his signature from the document recommending the teachers’ promotion.
The document was ready for endorsement to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) when Adamat allegedly put the recommendation on hold on December 16.
When he asked Adamat why he and the 65 others were removed from the list, Mercado said he was told that they committed a violation of a commission en banc resolution.
Mercado said they went to Alvarez to inquire about their case, but the regional director’s answers only made them more confused.
“Naa siya’y gipang-question about sa among papers nga ang bottomline is wala siya kasabot unsa ang mga requirements sa promotion. Mura’g wala siya kabalo sa iyang trabaho,” he said.
(He questioned our papers. The bottomline is that he did not know what the requirements for promotion were. He seemed to be not knowledgeable of his job.)
For Mercado and the 65 other professors, the promotion is long overdue and is something that they worked hard for in the past three years.
If promoted, Mercado will jump from Instructor I to Assistant Professor.
“Gihagoan man gud ni namo tanan, so there’s no way nga ihikaw nila ni sa amoa. Legal man among documents ug kompleto, so dili namo makita why we were removed,” Mercado said.
(We all worked hard for this. Our documents are legal and complete. We don’t understand why we were removed.)