My gift to our dear teachers

My father, Don Vicente Gullas, founder of the University of the Visayas, was a visionary man. He was the first local educator to give a chance to poor and needy yet deserving students with his study-now-pay-later program. He was also the first to offer night classes for high school, so that those who needed to work during the day could still go to school at night.

Papa also established satellite schools, bringing education to the backyards of those living away from the city. One time, many years back, he told me, “Dodong, someday, somehow, somewhere, you will have a chance to serve your countrymen in one way or another, most especially our teachers who mold the youth to become good citizens of this country.” Papa was right, for that was exactly what I did with my flagship project as one-time Congressman of the first district of Cebu.

Dr. Jose Rizal wrote, “The youth is the hope of the motherland.” These words stirred the hearts of the Filipinos during Rizal’s time. Even with the passing of the years, the hope that the national hero wrote about then remains our hope today.

Even in the quagmire of difficult economic times we are stuck in, our optimism remains. We simply know that, somehow, when the youth eventually takes over the reins of the land, everything will be alright. Hope is indeed a powerful survival tool.

Good citizens make a good nation. It is the people who make the country prosper. Thus, we must properly prepare the youth for the crucial task of nation building. That preparation starts with good education.

And good education requires good teachers. Yet even the most dedicated teachers, human as they are, will not be effective in their work when saddled with economic difficulties. Like all other working-class citizens, teachers depend mainly on their salaries for the needs of their families.

With no other dependable source of income, teachers – particularly public-school teachers – must receive their salaries on time. It is necessary for them to make ends meet. They cannot just go on working for months without receiving their due compensation. Sad to say, this was precisely the situation of public-school teachers in the past.

Not long ago, when today’s Department of Education was still called the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), public school teachers suffered from delayed salaries. The DECS payroll service was centralized; all transactions related to teachers’ salaries were done in Manila.

Imagine a teacher finally receiving her salary after a long wait, only to find out that some money had been deducted for an insurance policy she did not apply for. Or perhaps, there was over-deduction for her salary loan payment. Or the salary increase had not been implemented.

The poor teacher would try to file a complaint, of course, but she had to wait an eternity before getting a status report. When the central office finally responded to her inquiries, all she would get was a curt “still processing” or “very busy” message.

New teachers had to wait for a long, long time before they could get hold of their very first paychecks. Many of them had to bear with the great hassle and expense of making follow-ups in Manila.

I found this to be a grossly unjust way to treat members of the noblest profession. And I believe that each one of us has the moral responsibility to do something to correct a wrong.

And so, I thought of a way to correct the problematic payroll system that was causing untold suffering to public school teachers. I sponsored House Bill 2542, whose main point was to create regional payroll service units all over the country. These offices would process, prepare, and distribute the salaries of teachers right within their respective regions.

The Bill clearly had good intentions. Yet, in spite of that, it was met with strong resistance by people in key positions. As the Bill was going through committee hearings in the Lower House, an officer of the so-called Manila Savings and Loan Association approached me. The guy tried to convince me that House Bill 2542 was no longer necessary, because their group was already helping the teachers in many parts of the country.

“You can do your best to block my Bill,” I told him. “And I will go on trying my best to push it.” There was no doubt in my mind that regionalizing the DECS payroll system was the right thing to do. When enacted into law, I thought, my Bill would be my precious gift to the country’s half a million public school teachers.

Never did I realize then that I would be stepping on the toes of very powerful people and giant funding companies. I remained unfazed, though. Like a true Visayanian who fights best when the odds are greatest, I focused all my energy so that my Bill would earn the approval of the house.

Well-meaning friends, politicians, and private individuals alike asked me, “Why the fervor behind the bill? What’s in it for you? Nothing – except the desire to render service, which I had been sworn to as a public servant. I understood why they asked. They wanted to save me from imminent disappointment.

But then again, I get stronger with adversity. I pushed my Bill, I would not take no for an answer. I approached Senators and fellow Congressmen, many of whom, I would learn later, only paid lip service to my request for their support. I was virtually a voice in the wilderness.

My persistence eventually paid off. On October 23, 2002, Congress approved House Bill 2542. Being a neophyte Congressman, my heart was filled with joy over such an achievement. But there was still much to do. The final approval of the Bill rested in the Senate.

In the meantime, I gathered the DECS regional directors and officers of the public school teachers associations all over the country to lobby for the Senate approval of my Bill. We approached Senator Loren Legarda, who was then the Majority Floor Leader. The lady senator appeared to be supportive.

We also visited Senator Franklin Drilon, whose attitude towards my Bill was quite different. There was something discouraging in Drilon’s reaction, which left me with a sense of foreboding. He seemed uninterested, for reasons I could not figure out.

With strong opposition and a cold shoulder from some high-ranking people, House Bill 2542 got stuck in the senate for almost a year. I was saddened, but my determination did not waver. I prayed for divine guidance, as I always do when situations seem hopeless.

I remembered the story from the Gospel of St. Luke, about a judge who feared neither God nor man. A widow pleaded insistently with the judge for a just decision on her case. After many days of the widow’s repeated pleadings, the judge finally gave a decision on the case, for fear that, if he did not, she would become desperate and go to the extent of harming him.

The gospel story rang in my mind as I visited Secretary Edilberto de Jesus, who was then at the helm of the Department of Education. I knew Secretary de Jesus well because he was the former president of Far Eastern University. I was brief and direct in telling him my desire to do something for the public-school teachers.

As I continued to pray for the passage of my Bill, I soon got word from Secretary de Jesus. He had directed his Undersecretary Jun Miguel Luz to implement the creation of regional payroll service units in selected areas. Hearing that, I felt like I was floating in the clouds. 

There was jubilation in my heart. What Papa Inting used to say was true, after all: “If you have noble intentions, the Lord will always answer your prayers.”

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself graced the launching of the first regional payroll office at DECS-Cebu on June 22, 2004. She personally handed the first few checks to teachers from Talisay City, Cebu, who were all too happy to be the initial beneficiaries of my House Bill 2542.

Mama Pining had once told us siblings, “Gratefulness springs from the memory of the heart.” And so my heart beats with gratitude for all those who had shared in my mission to regionalize the payroll system of public school teachers, as well as the non-teaching employees of DepEd. I will never forget those who at least paved the way for me, as I was chasing the ‘impossible dream’.”

My sincerest thanks to President Arroyo, to Secretary de Jesus, and to Undersecretary  Luz. The same gratitude also goes to my colleagues in the 12th Congress who helped and assisted me with my Bill; Congressmen Meling Espinosa, Nonoy Andaya, and Chiz Escudero and Congresswoman Nerissa Soon-Ruiz.

The establishment of regional payroll offices was completed by June 2006. Public school teachers and the other DepEd  personnel all over the country (except those in Region IV, ARMM, and NCR) now have their paychecks released, and any discrepancy in their pay computation speedily resolved, at their own regional payroll offices.

The country’s provincial teachers have finally been relieved of the great trouble and expense of having to go all the way to the DepEd central office in Manila to settle any problems regarding their pay.