Tinio seeks probe on unused Legal Defense Fund for teachers

ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio filed a House Resolution to call for an investigation into the non-use of P200 million allocated for the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) for public school teachers and education support personnel (ESP).

Tinio noted that despite the fund being clearly indicated in the annual General Appropriations Act through the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF), teachers were still left to shoulder legal costs whenever it came to administrative or legal cases.

“What is scandalous is that the fund exists, the guidelines exist, and yet most teachers and education support personnel are still forced to shoulder legal costs out of pocket,” he said.

“The LDF was created precisely to protect frontline workers, but it remains effectively inaccessible because many agencies failed to do the most basic requirements,” he added.

The requirements in question were provisions such as the creation of Claims Boards, internal guidelines, and proper information dissemination for employees.

However, the solon expressed that only a few agencies had actually complied with the said conditions, with agencies such as the Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of Health (DoH) among the departments that have yet to adopt the regulation.

This lack of compliance was said to have left thousands of public employees without the proper access to ample support whenever it comes to legal matters.

“DepEd itself admitted in a House hearing that it has yet to issue a necessary policy to implement the LDF for its employees,” he said.

Tinio explained that the revelation showed a depiction of the daily struggles of teachers whenever it comes to being threatened with legal action, particularly in how they disciplined their respective classrooms.

With the filing of House Resolution 921, the congressman hopes that any challenges that may lead to the lack of implementation of the LDF would be uncovered so that proper legislative measures can be taken to ensure that teachers are safeguarded in courts.

“We need clear obligations, timelines, reporting requirements, and penalties for non-compliance, so teachers and other frontline workers stop paying the price for government inaction,” he maintained.