Lapus sticks to order
TEACHERS’ GUIDEBOOK CONTROVERSY
Aquino, Torio to go
LINGAYEN–Beleaguered Pangasinan II Schools Superintendent Armando Aquino and Pangasinan I Schools Superintendent Alma Ruby Torio are keeping mum on the controversy surrounding them, leaving the fight in the hands of the provincial government.
Aquino, however, has reportedly filed his terminal leave since he is due for mandatory retirement in June when he turns 65 while Torio is just staying put while awaiting her re-assignment to a lower post.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus ordered the re-assignment of the two as an administrative sanction for allegedly failing to comply with the DepEd’s policy on book publishing and bypassing the department’s hierarchy when they ordered the writing of the teachers’ guidebook project funded by the provincial government.
Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan, however, countered that DepEd Director Ligaya Miguel was informed about it from the very start.
Baraan defended the two beleaguered schools superintendents in a talk during the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas Forum last week.
Both Aquino and Torio declined to give any comment to the media after they appeared before the Provincial Board last Monday
The board, with the backing of Governor Amado Espino Jr., is filing a motion for reconsideration on Lapus’ directive.
However, while Espino expressed support for the two superintendents, he did not raise the issue with Lapus when they met in Sto. Tomas last Tuesday where an out-of-town cabinet meeting was held.
Lapus is reportedly sticking to his decision to re-assign Aquino and Torio, to lesser posts in the province.
The secretary asserts that the two violated DepEd procedures in the production of guidebooks for teachers.
Lapus said the teachers who wrote the guidebook were not qualified to author books since they did not possess doctorate degrees.
The project, called “Course of Study”(COS), considered a pioneering development to improve teaching, was adopted by the provincial government for implementation throughout the province.
The provincial government funded the production and distribution of the guidebooks to teachers in the province.
Reliable sources say Aquino was disappointed by the action of Lapus as he believes that the teachers’ guidebook project did not violate DepEd rules and procedures.
There were initially 47 guidebooks that were distributed in February this year while another set for other subjects are set to be distributed next month—LM
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