MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Oct. 8 (PIA) --- Around 1,500 teachers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are expected to receive a total of at least P25-million refund from state pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) before year-end, the region’s education secretary announced Sunday.
Secretary Jamar Kulayan of the Department of Education (DepEd)-ARMM said this was brought after ARMM settled the more than P1-billion outstanding obligation of DepEd-ARMM with the GSIS in an agreement with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and GSIS in June this year.
DBM paid P891.4 million worth of unpaid premiums to the GSIS and promised to pay another P100 million within a period of a year.
Kulayan said GSIS has since been updating the records of teachers in the region
ARMM, comprised of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan, has around 26,000 teaching personnel.
Kulayan said around 6,000 public school teachers will benefit once GSIS completely updated its record, with refunds estimated to reach an aggregate amount of more than P200 million.
Kulayan made the announcement in front of more than 2,000 teachers who gathered in Broce Elementary School in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Maguindanao to celebrate this year’s World Teachers Day.
He said the working ARMM government wants to honor and give tribute to teachers by pushing with the needed education reforms in the region including the restoration of the GSIS benefits of teachers.
“Teaching is the mother of all professions,” he said, “a noble calling that requires a lot of heart.”
Kulayan challenged the teachers to continually produce God-fearing, humane, patriotic and pro-environment citizens.
“We must be one in addressing to the need to provide better access to education, increase literacy rate, excel in our overall performance, progress in assessment and advance in terms of academic indicators,” he said. (Bureau of Public Information-ARMM/PIA-10)
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