By Arabella Balderama

Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte signed DepEd Order (DO) No. 49 series of 2022 on November 2, amending the recently released DO 47 entitled “Promotion of Professionalism in the Implementation and Delivery of Basic Education Programs and Services”, which further enhances professionalism within the sector by “avoiding relationships, interaction, and communication, including following social media with learners”. 

Based on this, student-teacher interactions outside of the school setting are prohibited—except if they are relatives—to avoid engaging in relationships or activities that may interfere with their capacity to decide “objectively” in their respective responsibilities.

Moreover, the regulations of Republic Act No. 6713, known as the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, were reiterated to officials and personnel of the department, expecting them to adhere to several measures in this regard.

In line with this, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Representative France Castro raised her concern on Friday, November 4, regarding the new DO, deeming it as a way of “muzzling” teachers and other employees of the education sector.

Castro added that the DO hinders the freedom of speech, expression, and organization rights of educators and support personnel.

Castro asked, “Why does DepEd feel the need to create such an order that gags and threatens teachers and education support personnel, which treats them as mere creatures only of the school and dehumanizes them preventing them from exercising their right to free speech, expression, to organize and be able to voice out their grievances?” 

The ACT representative also pointed out that educators and DepEd staff already follow the code of ethics mentioned, stressing that the order “expands and even exceeds boundaries of the definitions under existing laws to prevent teachers from exercising their constitutional rights.”

She further argued that DepEd should focus on addressing other issues, such as the classroom shortage, lack of support for teachers, and the worsening crisis in education, instead of implementing a “gag” order.

Meanwhile, it is still unclear how the new regulation would affect blended or distant learning classes which utilize communication on social media platforms.

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