Malabon gov’t acts on complaints about grad fee collections in public schools

MANILA, Philippines—With barely a month left before the school year ends, the Malabon City government is swamped with complaints from parents accusing several public school officials of violating the Department of Education’s zero-collection policy on graduation fees.

The complaints have prompted local education officials and Vice Mayor Antolin Oreta III to call an emergency meeting of the various stakeholders on Saturday to reiterate and explain the contents of DepEd Order No. 9, s. 2010.

The order, which was circulated to all regional and bureau directors, school division and city superintendents, and public and private elementary and secondary school principals, early this year reiterates the government’s stand on the collection of money for graduation rites, which was then contained in DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2005.

Both orders prohibit public school heads, teachers and other DepEd personnel from soliciting any contribution for graduation rites in public schools.

But Parent-Teacher Associations may give donations in cash or in kind, according to the orders.

“It’s been giving us a headache. We’ve been receiving calls from parents, telling us that some schools still solicit money for this despite the memo,” Bong Padua, chief public information officer, told the Inquirer.

He said that he has been receiving the complaints since last week.

According to Mauro de Gulan, officer in charge of the city’s Office of the Superintendent of the Division of Malabon City, he has been receiving similar calls and text messages from angry parents.

De Gulan said that because of this, he has directed local education officials to put up posters and tarpaulins in the city’s 37 public schools reminding school officials about the government’s policy.

He added that even the city government has already intervened to address the complaints.

“The city government will allocate around P500,000 from the special education fund for graduation exercises,” he said.

This, De Gulan said, translated to P50 per public school graduate.

According to De Gulan, the money was aside from at least P1,200 each public school will receive for recognition rites. “This is so we can finally put a stop to this, since it’s always the same thing all over again,” Padua said.