Maternity leave scam? Sara Duterte orders probe in it
MATERNITY LEAVE SCAM – A probe into the alleged maternity leave scam has been ordered by Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, who also serves as the secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).
Michael Poa, the agency’s spokesman said that education department has already established a fact-finding committee to look into the incident in accordance with Duterte-Carpio’s mandate. “Most of the members of the committee came from the Regional Office in [National Capital Region],” Poa told Inquirer.net. “This is to ensure that the investigation will be impartial.”
This is in light of the fact that, as reported by ABS-CBN News on Thursday, a DepEd employee from the Taguig City-Pateros (DepEd-Tapat) division of the department of education uncovered a purported maternity leave scam.
Dr. Ellery Quintia, head of DepEd-Curriculum Tapat’s Implementation Division, was quoted as saying that certain teachers allegedly requested maternity breaks up to 11 times in a period of three years, with one of them even obtaining compensation ranging from P35,000 to P61,000 from 2016 to 2019.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), in contrast, stated on Friday that the education department should investigate the situation in light of the possibility that teachers and other officials may be involved in this scam.
ACT said that a typical public school teacher could never have planned and carried out such a shady scheme. There is a real chance that one could lose their job, reputation, and entire future, which is extremely risky given the acute economic crisis.
The group added that if this is true, a teacher cannot effectively claim maternity leave benefits on their own as several responsible parties, including officials, must be involved.
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