DepEd: Photos showing teachers on roof for internet signal only a ‘reenactment’

MANILA, Philippines — The photos of teachers who went on the roof of their school supposedly to get a stable internet connection just showed a reenactment of a situation that arose in one of their training in September, the Department of Education (DepEd) clarified on Monday.

According to DepEd Undersecretary and Spokesperson Nepomuceno Malaluan, the photos that circulated on social media showing teachers on the roof of a building at the Sto. Niño National High School in Batangas City only depicted a reenactment for media coverage of what happened during training on September 24.

“It turns out that this originated from a Facebook post of one of the teachers and this was in connection with their professional development training on learning delivery modalities,” Malaluan told a press briefing, referring to the Facebook post of a teacher that showed the original situation back in September.

He said that at the time the original photo was taken, Globe Telecom, which has a stronger signal in the area, happened to be down, prompting the teacher to use his personal Smartmodem “to turn-in their learning task in google classroom in relation to a training on learning delivery modalities.”

“The representation that going to the roof is a regular occurrence is not true. The original picture happened only once,” Malaluan stressed.

“The photo on October 5 was a reenactment. The understanding of the school was that it will be used for the story or context within which it occurred,” he also said.

He added that it is not true that the incident happened in the context of teaching students for the school opening on October 5 as the school uses modular learning modality.

In a statement, the Sto. Niño National High School also sought to clarify the issue, saying the October 5 photos were misinterpreted. A copy of the statement was presented by Malaluan during the press briefing.

“Ito ay reenactment ng tunay na naganap noong September 24, 2020 habang tinatapos ang isang online requirement ng mga guro bilang paghahanda sa nasabing pagbubukas ng klase,” the school’s staff said.

(This is just a reenactment of what truly happened on September 24, 2020, while finishing the online requirement of teachers as preparation for the opening of classes.)

Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier branded the October 5 photos as “fake,” saying in Filipino that the teachers “looked like they are part of a chorus line, raising their hands at the same time, looking at the camera and fully made up.”

JE