Josefina Tanpiengco. Photo courtesy of Tudla Productions
MANILA, Philippines – Besides make-up classes for all the school days missed after the devastation of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” public school teachers in Tacloban City were given make-up kits, to “liven up” their faces a month after the calamity.
Josefina Tanpiengco, principal of Anibong Elementary School in Tacloban City, told INQUIRER.net that they received lipstick and face powder from the Department of Education (DepEd) last December 9.
“(Education) Secretary (Armin) Luistro gave (the lipstick) . . . to give life to the pupils. So that the children can see that the teacher’s lips are red (and lively). . . So that the teacher has life. That’s how I understood it,” she said in Filipino in a phone interview.
In a picture taken and posted on Facebook by Tudla productions, Tanpiengco is shown sitting in her office with the unopened pack of a local brand of lipstick and face powder.
The principal said other government employees were present during the event where they were given peanut-flavored biscuits and water. Although unsure, she surmised that the make-up kits came from a donor.
On Facebook, her fellow teachers from the region posted photos of the event, showing the stage decorated with the words, “Feel good. Government workers & volunteers….Free haircut.”
But what Tanpiengco and other DepEd employees are disgruntled about is the agency’s seeming lack of support.
“We did not receive anything in terms of financial assistance,” she said, adding there was one time when it was rumored that they would be given P5,000 each, in addition to a set of toiletries, by the Deped National Capital Region. However, they heard the money was sent to their division office.
“But until now, I don’t know if someone gave P5,000 . . . Like what I was saying, not one grain of rice was given (by the agency) after Yolanda,” she said.
Tanpiengco said that until now, her house has no roof, and was covered only by a large piece of tarp.
Asked if they had done anything to complain about their situation, she said they have been telling their supervisors who asked them to be patient but would seemingly ignore their pleas.
Tanpiengco said she knew she would be asked to explain herself to her superiors for saying such things but she said she didn’t mind because she was just saying the truth.
“Of course you would quote me . . . I’m sure that I will be summoned . . . but that’s okay because it’s the truth,” she said.
Retired teacher Efleda Bautista, regional coordinator in Eastern Visayas for Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), said she has heard of such stories.
“No cash, no food packs, from DepEd. They feel that they’re really neglected,” she said.
Meanwhile, ACT Philippines secretary general France Castro said the government should realize that the teachers were also victims who should also be assisted.
“We’re neither clowns nor beauty pageant contestants who need to wear make-up and lipstick to make our students and the community happy so that they would forget the problems caused by Yolanda,” Castro said.
Bautista said another problem faced by the teachers in typhoon-hit areas was the failure of the government to implement the moratorium on loan payments for Pag-ibig or with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
“The moratorium is there . . . starting November. But they found out when they withdrew their pay for November and December that the loan payments were still being deducted,” she said.
Bautista said she heard DepEd was working to correct the problem but that the moratorium would only be valid starting this year.
She said they pitied the teachers who were also victims of the typhoon that left thousands dead and more than half a million homeless.
“They are not only teachers, they are mothers, they are fathers who were also victims…they have nowhere to go, just like the other evacuees here. They really feel that they have nowhere to go, that there is no government attending to their needs,” she said.
INQUIRER.net tried to contact the Department of Education for their response on the matter but was told that a request letter for an interview should first be submitted to the agency.
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