DepEd-Davao orders permanent closure of Salugpongan schools

DAVAO CITY – The Department of Education (DepED)-Davao has permanently closed the 55 schools operated by the Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center, Inc. in different parts of Davao Region, DepEd-spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said on Tuesday.

Atillo told a press conference that Maria Eugenia M. Nolasco, executive director of the Salugpongan, formally received on Monday afternoon the notice of resolution of DepEd-Davao dated September 20.

“From then on, Salugpongan is no longer allowed to operate in the Region 11. Any child who is currently with Salugpongan – the operations of these schools are already cancelled and mandated closed since yesterday (Monday), officially they no longer allowed to operate here in Region 11,” he said.

The resolution read in part: “It is with regret to inform you that all schools under the Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanonon Community Learning Center, Inc. are hereby ordered closed. Conformably thereto, it is requested that all student records shall be trned over to the DepEd Schools Division Office for property custody.”

The agency came out with a resolution more than two weeks after a factfinding team, created by the DepEdDavao to look into the allegations of the National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon and the response of the management of the Salugpongan, recommended the closure of the “private schools owned and operated by Salugpongan.”

DepEd-Davao director Evelyn R. Fetalvero issued suspension order against Salugpongan schools last July 10.

Atillo said among the grounds upon which the DepEd-Davao based its findings included the alleged noncompliance of the schools with the curriculum standards set by DepEdDavao; taking the lumad students away from their home without the consent of their parents and used them to generate funds by making them perform the plifhgt of the lumad, in violation of the DepEd’s Child protection policy; teachers of Salugpongan are not passers of the Licensure Exam for Teachers; Salugpongan has been operating within the ancestral domain of the IP community without obtaining the mandatory free and prior informed consent of the concerned IP communities and certification precondition from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples; some students of Salugpongan do not have Learners Reference Number, in violation of the requirement under DepEd Order No. 26 s. series 2015; and Salugpongan has misrepresetnaed its enrolment data in that the data contained in the documents it submitted do not match with the data found in the Learners Information System.