Angara: Defer teachers’ loan payments in calamity areas

MANILA, Philippines — Education Secretary Sonny Angara has requested private and public financial institutions to grant a three-month moratorium on the payment of loans of teachers and non-teaching personnel affected by recent calamities.

In two separate letters – one addressed to all private financial institutions and the other to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) – Angara asked that teachers and non-teaching personnel living in areas declared under state of calamity due to recent typhoons be given a moratorium on the payment of their loans.

Angara specifically requested that the moratorium of Department of Education (DepEd) employees’ loan payments be three months, starting in January 2025, with payments to resume in April 2025.

Angara said the three-month moratorium is intended only for bona fide teachers and non-teaching personnel within the calamity areas as declared by appropriate government agencies such as the Office of the President, local government units or Office of Civil Defense from September 2024.

In the same letters, however, Angara also requested the private financial institutions and the GSIS to grant “all DepEd personnel” a one-month moratorium on payments of their loans or for December 2024, with payments to resume in January 2025, in order “to assist them during these financially difficult times.”

The DepEd said the requested moratorium “is expected to cover all charges, costs and interests.”

In a separate letter to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Angara requested that the loans of all DepEd employees, including the teachers and non-teaching personnel which will be subject to the moratorium, “not be classified as non-performing loans, particularly during the periods of December 2024 to March 2025.”

“Our personnel have consistently served the nation and its people in ensuring that the future of the youth is brighter through the provision of quality education. I sincerely hope that, in times of need, our government would find reason to extend to them this much-needed help,” Angara’s letter read.