MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) should “take extra mile” to assist school heads and teachers who contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a lawmaker said Tuesday following the conduct of two face-to-face teachers’ seminars in Zambales which ultimately led to numerous individuals contracting the virus.
Zambales 2nd District Rep. Cheryl Deloso-Montalla called the conduct of the seminars as “disastrous” and “very alarming and unfortunate.”
The said seminar conducted in the province has resulted in at least 28 DepEd Zambales employees contracting the disease.
“The seminars conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) Division of Zambales which were attended by school principals and head teachers from March 1-6, 2021 and March 8-12, 2021 in two separate beach resorts in the Municipality of Iba, Province of Zambales in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is a very alarming and unfortunate incident,” Montalla said in a statement.
“These school heads are now being attended to in President Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Hospital (PRMMH) and contact-tracing yielded an exponential increase in the COVID-19 statistics in the Province of Zambales,” she added.
Montalla said that while it is the mandate of DepEd to ensure universal access to quality education during the pandemic, “the conduct of a face-to-face seminar involving a crowd beyond what is permitted by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases by DepEd Division of Zambales is totally uncalled for.”
“I also urge the DepEd Division of Zambales to do the appropriate thing – take the extra mile to assist all the school heads, teachers and their close contacts who fell victim to COVID-19,” Montalla said.
DepEd in Central Luzon has launched an investigation to determine the lapses in the seminars conducted.
The source of the infections was a teacher who served as the guest speaker in both seminars, said Dr. Noel Bueno, provincial health director.