May 22, 2017
DepEd Order No. 27, s. 2017
Addendum to DepEd Order No. 12, s. 2017 (Implementation of 4,000.00 Net Take Home Pay for Department of Education Personnel)
To:
Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau and Service Directors
Regional Directors
Schools Division Superintendents
Public Elementary and Secondary Schools Heads
All Others Concerned
1. The Department of Education (DepEd) hereby issues this Addendum to supplement and clarify the provisions of DepEd Order No. 12, s. 2017 on the Implementation of P 4,000.00 Net Take Home Pay (NTHP) for Department of Education Personnel pursuant to Section 47–Authorized Deductions of the General Provisions of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017.
2. It is recognized that existing salary deductions for payment of financial obligations before the issuance of the said DepEd Order may have already reduced the NTHP of DepEd personnel to lower than the P 4,000.00 threshold. This is because last year’s required minimum NTHP was only P 3,500.00 per Section 52– Authorized Deductions of the General Provisions of the GAA for FY 2016. It is further considered that discontinuing or reducing existing deductions would be disruptive and may lead to the exercise of discretion as to which deductions to retain or postpone. More importantly, stoppage/interruption of salary deductions to satisfy the P 4,000.00 threshold would have implications on the following:
a. Contractual agreements between DepEd personnel and entities with which the former has outstanding financial obligations. Interruption of salary deductions would be inconsistent with Article III, Section 10, of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which states that, “No law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed.” Effects would be the imposition of penalties on the loans of borrowing employees, and termination of memberships and claims to benefits for insurance and mutual aid system of member employees; and
b. Work attendance and incidental expenses of the affected DepEd personnel, as well as classroom instruction for affected DepEd teachers, in case financial obligations, will be paid over the counter.
3. In view of the above and pending the result of the ongoing legal review being made by this Department on the queuing system and implementing guidelines of payroll deductions, all concerned must be guided by the following:
a. The new threshold of P 4,000.00 shall be applied to new deductions only. This means that existing deducted obligations before the issuance of the aforesaid DepEd Order must not be affected by the increase in the required minimum NTHP this FY 2017;
b. The First In-First Served queuing system of payroll deductions shall still be observed;
c. Deductions for newly granted loans and/or newly contracted insurance/MAS memberships are subject to the P 4,000.00 threshold, and can only be incorporated in the payroll if said amount is satisfied; and
d. Queued deductions, or financial obligations that have not yet been deducted from the DepEd employees’ salaries, are considered new deductions for purposes of this Order. Thus, queued deductions shall be effected only if within the threshold.
4. The concerned personnel in the payroll and other involved units/offices in the central, regional and schools division offices, as well as the fiscally autonomous secondary schools, are hereby instructed to strictly enforce this Order.
5. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.
(Sgd)LEONOR MAGTOLIS BRIONES
Secretary
