LUISA D.

RAMOS
SPECIAL TOPICS IN EDUCATION

DepEd stays committed to protecting children

online
Published July 8, 2019, 12:25 PM

By Merlina Hernando Malipot

The Department of Education (DepEd) reiterated its commitment to protect the interest of children online by
teaching them digital life skills.

DepEd, together with its partners Stairway Foundation and the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of
the Philippines (IMMAP), recently received an excellence award for the #BeCyberSafe Project during the Third
Annual Philippines OpenGov Leadership Forum.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones expressed her appreciation for the recognition, which she believed will
bolster the efforts of the

Department in “ensuring the best interest of the learners.” She also expressed gratitude to IMMAP and
Stairway Foundation for their “unwavering commitment to help DepEd in safeguarding the cybersafety of our
children.”

For DepEd OIC-Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Josephine Maribojoc, the department teaches children digital
life skills through the #BeCybersafe Project. “We cannot build impenetrable fences around children in a
borderless cyberworld, which they enter on their own most of the time,” she said. “Instead, we equip them
with defenses,” she added.

Maribojoc added that there was a need to “empower children to be responsible and equipped netizens
themselves” because this is the “best tool to promote the best interest of the child online.”

Launched in November last year, the #BeCyberSafe Project aims to further educate learners, teachers,
parents, the school, and the community on how children can be safe in the online world. The project consists
of three major components, namely, Project for Keeps, Dalir-Eskwela, and Chatbot.

The “Project for Keeps” is a social media movement and the awareness raising component of the program,
while “Dalir-Eskwela” features a range of educational materials including videos, brochures, and posters that
discuss issues on cybersafety. The “Chatbot” – which is still in its development phase – is a social media page
with a messaging feature which will be used as a helpline where child protection issues faced in the
cyberspace may be reported and addressed.

The #BeCyberSafe project also ensures that the scope of child protection extends to the cybersphere.

IMMAP Executive Director Aye Ubaldo, Stairway Foundation Senior Advocacy Officer Ysrael Diloy, and DepEd
Office of the Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Focal Person for Child Protection Edna Ramirez received the
award during the ceremonies held at the New World Hotel in Makati.

The recognition of excellence was aimed at honoring government agencies for their outstanding achievement
in using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to engage and empower citizens, simplify and
improve the clientele’s experience, enhance people’s collaboration with the government, and integrate and
update existing systems.

Mohit Sagar, Group Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the OpenGov Recognition of Excellence 2019
further touted the award as a celebration of the Philippine government agencies that are “striving toward
excellence in strategies, policies, and initiatives.”
BELINDA C. AQUINO
SPECIAL TOPICS IN EDUCATION

DepEd order to keep teachers’ take home pay at

P5,000; loan payment deductions to be limited
The Department of Education (DepEd) reminded its personnel of the “consequences” of applying for loans
with lending institutions as it announced the implementation of the P5,000 net take home pay (NTHP) for fiscal
year (FY) 2019.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones

(DepEd / MANILA BULLETIN)

Education Secretary Leonor Briones, in DepEd Order No. 14 s. of 2019, issued the guidelines for the
implementation of the P5,000 NTHP relative to the issuance of Republic Act No. 11260 or General
Appropriations Act (GAA) for SY 2019.

These guidelines, Briones said, will “provide procedures for the proper implementation and compliance with
the applicable provisions of the FY 2019 GAA” and veto message of President Rodrigo Duterte – in connection
with the Automatic Payroll Deduction System (APDS) Program of DepEd.

Citing Section 52 of the 2019 GAA, DepEd said that the President’s veto message noted that “financing
companies and other similar entities that have authority to engage in lending and mutual benefits or mutual
aid system as stated in their respective constitutions and by-laws approved by the government regulating
bodies” among authorized deductions are “vetoed for lack of legal basis.”

DepEd noted that while the President recognizes the “advantage” afforded to government employees in
authorizing agencies to deduct the amount of their contributions and obligations to financing institutions, “the
government should not be reduced to a collecting agent of these institutions.” As such, he directed the
conditional implementation the authorized deductions.

Given this, Briones – in the DO 14 s. of 2019 – stressed that the NTHP threshold is “mandatory.” Thus, “any
financial contribution incurred by any personnel shall not be deducted from his/her monthly salary if such
deduction will lower his/her NTHP beyond the P5,000 threshold.” DepEd also stressed that “no waivers
effectively reducing the NTHP shall be allowed.”

In relation to this, Briones also reminded all DepEd personnel of the “consequences” of applying loans with
lending institutions – noting that “delay in the payment of loans may result in the imposition of penalties and
accrued interests” by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Home Development Fund (HDMF),
other government financial institutions, and private lenders.
“DepEd personnel whose loans are not deducted under the APDS are advised to pay their loans directly to
their respective lenders,” Briones added. DepEd noted that at least 16 financing companies are affected by the
implementation of the P5,000 NTHP for its personnel for FY 2019.

Teachers’ Indebtedness

Earlier, Briones cautioned against making “knee-jerk and unstudied correlation” between teachers’ salary
levels and their indebtedness.

Citing a study by Dr. Rosario Manasan, Briones noted that in the 2015 Family Income and Expenditure Survey
– it was found that “public school teachers have a higher propensity to borrow than other similarly situated
individuals.”

In Manasan’s study, Briones said that it was found out that “57.9% of households with a DepEd teacher had
outstanding loans, compared to only 26.8% of households with a private school teacher” while “33% of
households with at least one government worker other than a public school teacher, and 22.2% of households
with at least one private sector worker, had outstanding loans.”

Briones said that the tendency to “max out” the borrowing space also cuts across salary grades (SG). “There
are Teachers I (SG 11, with monthly basic pay of P20,754) and Master Teachers I (SG 18 with monthly basic pay
of P40,637) who receive only the minimum monthly net take home pay of P5,000 because of deductions for
loan repayments,” she said. “But there are also teachers across various SGs who get higher take-home pay
because they borrow less,” she added.

Predictably, Briones noted that “those with low net take-home pay will feel they are underpaid, even if their
situation is a result of their personal financial decisions.”

Briones also noted that the estimated debt of teachers – both to GSIS and accredited private lenders – is now
at P319 billion. She explained that this has “increased by P18 billion from the reported P301 billion two years
ago.”

In an effort to help teachers who are struggling with financial issues, Briones said that DepEd is “deepening” its
“study on public school teachers’ debts.” This, she noted, is “to understand the issue better, to introduce
reforms to address the situation and to help ensure that teachers will benefit more from any salary increase.”
MARJORIE E. DELOS SANTOS
SPECIAL TOPICS IN EDUCATION

Education through social media discouraged

Janvic Mateo (The Philippine Star) - July 4, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — An official of the Department of Education (DepEd) has warned
against the use of social media for education purposes.

Education Undersecretary Alain Del Pascua said there are other learning management
systems that teachers may use instead of relying on social media to communicate and
deliver information to their students.

“Social media is the easiest medium to deliver information in the digital age using the
latest on-hand technologies. However, it opens one’s identity to the World Wide Web,
making young learners exposed to different cyber threats,” Pascua said in an aide
memoire issued last week.

“Social media as a tool for collaboration and communication could defeat its purpose if not used
properly and may cause serious problems. It can also be a tool that could provide gaming
applications, marketplace or online services and viewing of different multimedia content which are
not appropriate to the level of maturity of young learners,” he added.

Other problems may include access to adult content that may elicit malicious or incorrect values;
cyber bullying, identity theft, online gambling, pornography and market fraud; and distraction due
to various available materials that could result in poor performance.

In the case of Facebook, Pascua said all elementary pupils are legally barred from using the
platform as it only allows users to be 13 years old or older.