MANILA, Philippines – A group representing educators of the Faculty of Arts and Letters has called for the reinstatement of teaching loads of lecturers in the faculty who have not submitted health certificates mandated and issued by the Manilan government.

In a letter dated Aug. 15, 2024 and addressed to Artlets Dean Prof. Melanie Turingan, Arts and Letters Faculty Association (ALFA) President Rene Tadle named six non-tenured faculty members who were not given teaching loads for the first term of Academic Year 2024-2025 because of their failure to submit health certificates as required by a Manila ordinance.

Tadle wrote that five of the faculty members he cited in the letter learned of this two days before Aug. 9, the official start of classes for this term.

Non-tenured faculty members are part-time lecturers hired on a per-term basis, as opposed to tenured staff, who are considered regular employees of the University. A faculty member’s teaching load dictates the subjects or courses they will teach for the term, the classes or sections they will teach them in, and the schedule and modalities of the courses they will teach.

The letter said that non-tenured, and probationary faculty members “should not be deprived of their teaching assignments in AB due to their lack of health permits.”

“Depriving them of their teaching loads seems to contradict UST’s statement about ongoing dialogue among all stakeholders,” the letter stated.

ALFA added that faculty members, some of whom may have refused to comply with the health certificate directive out of genuine opposition to it, should not be punished for their beliefs.

“There is also a risk that the "no health permit, no teaching load" requirement could be misused against faculty members who, in good conscience, find the requirement unreasonable, illegal, or immoral,” the letter read.

Manila City Ordinance 8793, also known as the Sanitation and Disinfection Code of Manila, required all businesses to be subjected to health inspections to obtain a health permit.

It also mandated all employees working in food and non-food business establishments in the capital to submit to a chest X-ray analysis, fecal analysis, and a drug test administered by the Manila Health Department in order to get a health certificate–a requirement before starting work in the city.

The ordinance had an exclusive provision for educational institutions in the city, requiring all employees in the sector, whether they are teaching or support staff, to secure a health certificate.

According to the city government’s Go! Manila e-government app, a health permit costs 625 pesos: 100 pesos is for the health certificate; 235 pesos for the occupational license; 40 pesos for the stool examination; and 250 pesos for the drug test. Applicants must get their X-ray check-up at an accredited third-party laboratory, as it is not included in the price of the health permit.

Employees, including educators, must undergo screening at the Manila Health Department’s makeshift laboratory at the former San Francisco Friendship Library in Alvarez Street, Sta. Cruz district Earlier, the Ugnayan ng mga Nagkakaisang Manggagawa ng UST criticized the lack of sanitary and safe spaces in the laboratory at Alvarez Street. They mentioned the lack of gender-sensitive spaces, hygienic restrooms to collect urine and stool samples, and equipment availability.

Discriminatory and Inconsistent

The ALFA further argued that the University’s interpretation of the ordinance “discriminates” as the ordinance itself did not distinguish between employment statuses.

The group argued a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document about the health certificate, sent by the Office of the Secretary-General (OSG) to all university staff on July 18, as the source of “confusion and the strong feeling of discrimination” among aggrieved employees.

The document was drafted by the OSG after a meeting with Manila City Health Officer Dr. Arnold Pangan, the husband of Mayor Maria Sheilah “Honey” Lacuna-Pangan. FAQ no. 8 asked, “Why are University staff with updated Professional Tax Receipts (anchored on a valid PRC or IBP ID) no longer required to apply for a Health Certificate?”

The document noted that educators with professional licenses–those issued by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines–have not been required to get a health certificate by the city government and the University because of Section 139 of the Local Government Code of 1991 giving them relief from paying additional local government taxes to practice their profession.

Meanwhile, tenured staff cannot be terminated without just cause as stipulated in the UST Faculty Union’s collective bargaining agreement with the university, meaning that even if they fail to comply with the health certificate requirement, they cannot be instantly fired by the University.

ALFA believes that the Local Government Code does not exempt professionals from the requirement of a health permit, and appealed to the dean and to University administrators to treat non-tenured faculty members on the same level as they treat tenured staff and those with professional licenses.

“The ordinance does not distinguish between different categories of workers at the university—all are required to submit a health permit,” the letter read. “If we do not deprive the latter of teaching loads, fairness demands that the same consideration be given to non-tenured faculty members.”

“...[M]aking such a distinction and applying it [FAQ No.8] as a policy is inconsistent with the purpose of the ordinance, which requires health permits to ensure workers are fit for work and free of communicable diseases–something that cannot be guaranteed solely by holding a professional license,” ALFA said in the letter.

Faculty of Arts and Letters’ compliance to Manila City Health Permit policy

TomasinoWeb reached out to department chairs of the Faculty of Arts and Letters to inquire about the compliance of the departments’ faculty members with the health certificate requirement.

These departments told TomasinoWeb that their staff were fully compliant with the directive:

• Asian Studies
• Behavioral Science
• Communication
• Creative Writing
• Economics
• English
• Legal Management
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Sociology

Department of Literature Chair Asst. Prof. Allen Arboleda, Department of Modern Languages Chair Royce Lim, and Department of History Chair Assoc. Prof. Archie Resos did not respond to inquiries as of this writing.

Non-compliant Journalism educators clarification

Meanwhile, Department of Journalism Chair Felipe Salvosa II told TomasinoWeb that he reallocated teaching loads given to non-compliant educators to other faculty members since the Office of the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs (OVRAA) required instructors without Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) or Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) licenses non-PRC/IBP licensed educators to secure a health permit to get alongside their reappointment papers for the academic year Academic Year 2024-2025. -With reports from Maujerie Ann Miranda