EDITORIAL - Deceived again

In the entire bureaucracy of the government, there is perhaps no other sector that is as mistreated, abused and neglected as the public school teachers. Not only are they overworked and underpaid, any extra work that they do is not amply compensated.

Take the case of the work that public teachers do during elections. In the last barangay and SK elections, the teachers were enticed to do the additional work with promises of a P2,000 honorarium.

Now they are being told they are not going to get that amount because the Department of Budget and Management released money that was good to pay only P1,500. That is not only unfair, it is deceptive.

And for what reason? Neither the Comelec nor the DBM could say, other than that it was the only money released. Well, if no official excuse can be given, allow us to venture a guess: Maybe some of the money went into those cash gifts for congressmen, governors and mayors.

On the other hand, if officials are hard-pressed to find excuses, then the best thing that they can do under the circumstances is to shut up and hope this new pain in the neck about Philippine governance goes away in time.

Apparently, however, some officials are non-believers in the dictum “if you have nothing to say, don’t say it.” For here comes the Comelec regional director for Central Visayas, Ray Rene Buac, suggesting that teachers have no reason to complain.

In the logic of Buac, the teachers should take whatever amount they are given without any complaint because what they are given is a mere honorarium, which is something given on top of their salaries. What a cavalier way to dismiss a valid complaint.

It would be interesting to find out if Buac would take the same suggestion as easily if he were one of the shortchanged teachers. The trouble with overzealous functionaries is that they try to defend the indefensible when the more prudent thing to do is simply to shut up.