Teachers happy over SC final ruling vs overstaying Marawi school superintendent

MARAWI CITY, Philippines - Government teachers here were elated with the Supreme Court’s termination from service of their overstaying superintendent whose illegal three-year stint caused them serious administrative and fiscal woes.

Mona Macatanong, who turned 65 on Oct. 18, 2013, ignored orders from the education department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to vacate her post, causing troubles that affected the performance of teachers and caused backlogs in activities of local schools.

Irate teachers on Friday urged President Rodrigo Duterte to focus on the reluctance of the office of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in the autonomous region to enforce, for fear of reprisals, the ruling by the High Tribunal that declared Macatanong officially retired in 2013 yet.

Functions and powers of the CSC are not devolved to the executive department of ARMM. The regional government is still waiting for CSC’s response to the Supreme Court decision.

“It’s the turn now of the CSC to order her (Macatanong) to step down to ease tension and let our duly-mandated schools superintendent oversee our operations freely,” said a school principal, who requested anonymity.

The executive department of ARMM installed in 2013 Pharida Sansarona as superintendent of public schools in Marawi City. Macatanong, however, stayed and even questioned in court the regional government’s move.

She had also sued ARMM officials for replacing her after she reached the mandatory retirement age in October 2013.

Macatanong argued the date of birth indicated in the government personal data sheet she filled out when she first applied as school teacher more than three decades ago was erroneous, short of about two years.

Macatanong, backed by some 20 subordinates, mostly relatives, stayed on and refused to recognize the retirement order issued in 2013 by the Department of Education-ARMM.

A copy of last week’s Supreme Court ruling, obtained on Thursday from the DepEd-ARMM indicated that the High Tribunal junked Macatanong’s motion for reconsideration of an earlier decision by the Court of Appeals terminating her service for having reached the mandatory retirement age.

The three-year standoff in the leadership of the Marawi City Schools Division had unduly stalled the appointment and promotions of teachers and senior education officials in the area.