A group of non-teaching personnel called on the Department of Education (DepEd) on Thursday to stop certain officials from allegedly blocking the ratification of the Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA), the legal basis for granting CNA incentives to non-teaching staff.

Department of Education–National Employees’ Union (DepEd-NEU) national president Atty. Domingo Alidon outlined the full CNA process — from signing by the union and management, to notarization, member ratification, and submission to the Civil Service Commission (CSC), which issues the official ratification number.

“It [the CNA] is not enough to be signed by the DepEd management and the union. After it is signed and notarized, it must be brought down for ratification,” Alidon said in an interview at the DepEd-NEU 17th National Congress held at the Crown Legacy Hotel in Baguio City.

“Once it is not ratified, it becomes void even if there is already a settlement. A 50 percent plus one vote is needed — if there are 100 personnel, 51 must sign,” he added.

According to the union, many non-teaching personnel are unable to join the signature campaign because some schools division superintendents are allegedly waiting for a division memorandum before allowing participation, even though such a requirement does not exist.