DepEd Order No. 046, s. 2022 : Amendments to DepEd Order No. 043, s. 2022 (Omnibus Travel Guidelines for All Personnel of the Department of Education)

DepEd Order No. 046, s. 2022

Amendments to DepEd Order No. 043, S. 2022
(Omnibus Travel Guidelines for All Personnel of the Department of Education)

 

 

17 OCT 2022

 

DepEd ORDER

No. 046, s. 2022

 

AMENDMENTS TO DEPED ORDER NO. 043, S. 2022

(Omnibus Travel Guidelines for All Personnel of the Department of Education)

 

To:      Undersecretaries

Assistant Secretaries

Bureau and Service Directors

Regional Directors

Schools Division Superintendents

Public Elementary and Secondary School Heads

All Others Concerned

 

1. With the issuance of DepEd Order (DO) No. 043, s. 2022, the Department adopted its Omnibus Travel Guidelines for all DepEd Personnel. Noting, however, that some degree of flexibility is needed in order to address all potential situations that may arise in the course of departmental operations, with due consideration for the concerns raised in the interpretation of certain provisions, further clarification and amendment of the Omnibus Travel Guidelines is in order.

 

2. In the same manner as DO 043, s. 2022 was promulgated, this Order is issued pursuant to the directive for the DepEd Secretary to cause the preparation and issuance of internal guidelines on local and foreign travels in the Department and its attached agencies for purposes of providing such additional safeguards as are best suited to agency conditions and agency peculiarities, and to ensure the judicious use of public funds. (Section 21(a)(i), Executive Order No. 77, s. 2019)

 

3. Recommending and Approving Authorities for Foreign and Local Official Travel - The following provisions of Omnibus Travel Guidelines on the Recommending and Approving Authorities for Foreign and Local Official Travel are updated and clarified, to wit:

 

a. For Official Foreign Travel - The provisions of Item IV(B)(4)(b), and its table of recommending and approving authorities for official foreign travel shall read as follows:

 

b. The recommending and approving officers for the issuance of official foreign travel authority to officers and employees of the Department, including its attached agencies, are indicated in the following table:

 

Office/Position	Recommending Authority	Approving Authority
a.     Central Office
1. Undersecretary (Usec), and Assistant Secretary (ASec)	None	Secretary or her duly designated executive official (Exec)
2. Burueau/Service Director, and Exec. Director	Usec/Asec concerned (Highest Exec. of the Strand)	Usec (Chief of Staff)
3. Division Chief, and below	Bureau/Service Director concerned	Usec/Asec concerned (Highest Exec. of the Strand)
4. Offices / Units / Staff Complement – Office of the Secretary (OSEC)	OSEC Head Exec. Assistant, or Director concerned	Usec (Chief of Staff)
5. Offices / Units / Staff Complement – Office of the Usec/Asec	None	Usec/Asec concerned
b.    Regional Office
1. Regional Director (RD), and Assistant RD	Usec for Governance & Field Operations	Usec (Chief of Staff)
2. Division Chief, and below	RD	Usec for Governance and Field Operations
c.     Schools Division Office
1. Schools Division Superintendent (SDS), and Assistant SDS	RD	Usec for Governance and Field Operations
2. Division Chief, and below, including Public Schools District Supervisors (PSDS)	SDS	Usec for Governance and Field Operations
d.    Schools
1. School Head	SDS	Usec for Governance and Field Operations
2. Teaching personnel, and Nonteaching personnel	SDS	Usec for Governance and Field Operations
e.     Attached Agencies
1. Agency Head	None	Usec (Chief of Staff)
2. Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council	Executive Director	Usec (Chief of Staff)
3. National Academy of Sports (NAS)	Executive Director	Usec (Chief of Staff)
4. National Book Development Board (NBDB)	Executive Director	Usec (Chief of Staff)
5. National Council for Children’s Television (NCCT)	Executive Director	Usec (Chief of Staff)
6. National Museum of the Philippines (NMP)	Director General	Usec (Chief of Staff)
7. Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA)	Director IV	Usec (Chief of Staff)
8. Other Attached Agencies	Head of the Agency	Usec (Chief of Staff)

 

b. For Official Local Travel - The provisions of Item IV(C)( l)(b), and its table of recommending and approving authorities for official local travel shall read as follows:

 

b. The recommending and approving officers for the issuance of official local travel authority to officers and employees of the Department, including its attached agencies, are indicated in the following table:

 

Office/Position	Recommending Authority	Approving Authority
a.     Central Office
1. Undersecretary (Usec), and Assistant Secretary (ASec)	None	Secretary or her duly designated executive official (Exec)
2. Bureau/Service Director, and Exec. Director	None	Usec/Asec concernced (Highest Executive of the Strand)
3. Division Chief, and below	Bureau/Service Director concerned	Usec/Asec concerned (Highest Exec. of the Strand)
4. Offices / Units / Staff Complement – Office of the Secretary (OSEC)	OSEC Head Exec. Assistant, or Director concerned	Usec (Chief of Staff)
5. Offices / Units / Staff Complement – Office of the Usec/Asec	None	Usec/Asec concerned (Highest Executive of the Strand)
b.    Regional Office
1. Regional Director (RD),	None	Usec for Governance and Field Operations (for destinations outside the Region only)
2. Assistant Regional Director (ARD)	RD (for destinations outside the Region only)   None (for destinations within the Region)	Usec for Governance and Field Operations (for destinations outside the Region only)   RD (for destinations within the Region)
3. Division Chief, and below	ARD	RD
c.     Schools Division Office
1. Schools Division Superintendent (SDS)	None	RD (for destinations outside the Division only)
2. Assistant Schools Division Superintendent	SDS (for destinations outside the Division only)   None (for destinations outside the Division Only)	RD (for destinations outside the Division only)   SDS (for destinations within the Division)
3. Division Chief, and below, including Public Schools District Supervisors (PSDS)	ASDS	SDS
d.    Schools
1. School Head (SH)	ASDS	SDS
2. Teaching personnel, and Nonteaching personnel (for destination within the Division)	None	SH
3. Teaching personnel, and Nonteaching personnel (for destination outisde the Division)	SH	SDS
e.     Attached Agencies
Local official travel of officers and personnel of DepEd Attached Agencies shall be governed by their internal agency rules and procedures.

 

c. Use of Locator Slips -The provisions of Item IV.C.2.b on the use of Locator Slips for day trips are clarified and amended to read as follows:

 

b. For activities/events/errands or performance of an assigned task that would require a DepEd official or employee to be outside of his/her permanent station or workplace during office hours within a day, for an entire day, or for a period not exceeding one day, a Locator Slip (Revised Annex E), duly approved by the Head. of Office or his/her Authorized Representative, and certified/signed by the authorized personnel from the office/place visited, may be used as the authority to travel. A Certificate of Appearance may be secured from the office visited, in lieu of the certification/signature of the person visited.

 

The accomplished and signed Locator Slip shall serve as the authority to travel and may be· used for reimbursement of actual transportation expenses only·. In no case shall it be used for personal business.

 

4. Personal Travel - The provisions of Item V of the Omnibus Travel Guidelines on Personal Travel, including its table of recommending and approving authorities for foreign personal travel, are streamlined to read as follows:

 

A. General Guidelines

 

1. Authorized Personal Foreign Travel. No DepEd official or employee shall be allowed to depart for any personal foreign travel, unless such official or employee has duly accomplished the requisite leave forms and. has obtained travel authorization.

 

Travel authorization shall only be granted by the Approving Authority after a determination that the absence of the requesting official or employee will not hamper the operational efficiency of his/her office.

 

2. Recommending and Approving Authority for Personal Foreign Travel. The recommending and approving officers for the issuance of personal foreign travel authority to officers and employees of the Department, including its attached agencies, are indicated in the following table:

 

Office/Position	Recommending Authority	Approving Authority
a.     Central Office
1. Undersecretary (Usec), and Assistant Secretary (ASec)	None	Usec (Chief of Staff)
2. Bureau/Service Director, and Exec. Director	None	Usec/Asec concernced (Highest Executive of the Strand)
3. Division Chief, and below	Bureau/Service Director concerned	Usec/Asec concerned (Highest Exec. of the Strand)
4. Offices / Units / Staff Complement – Office of the Secretary (OSEC)	OSEC Head Exec. Assistant, or Director concerned	Usec (Chief of Staff)
5. Offices / Units / Staff Complement – Office of the Usec/Asec	None	Usec/Asec concerned (Highest Executive of the Strand)
b.    Regional Office
1. Regional Director (RD),	None	Usec – Human Resource and Organizational Development (HROD)
2. Assistant Regional Director (ARD)	RD	Usec – HROD
3. Division Chief, and below	ARD	RD
c.     Schools Division Office
1. Schools Division Superintendent (SDS), and Assistant Schools Division Superintendent (ASDS)	RD	Usec – HROD
2. Division Chief, and below, including Public Schools District Supervisors (PSDS)	SDS	RD
d.    Schools
1. School Head (SH)	SDS	RD
2. Teaching personnel, and Nonteaching personnel	SDS	RD
e.     Attached Agencies
1. Head of Attached Agency	None	Usec (Chief of Staff)
2. Local official travel of other officers and personnel of DepEd Attached Agencies shall be governed by their internal agency rules and procedures.

 

3. Scholarships/trainings and related activities sourced and pursued by officials/ employees in their personal capacity should be brought to the attention of the immediate supervisor or head of the office before appllcation for authority to travel.

 

4. Personal Local Travel. The official or employee concerned shall accomplish the requisite leave forms from the approving authority.

 

5. Definition of Terms - The following provisions of Item III on Definition of Terms are modified and/or added:

 

a. Item 11l(a) on Attached Agencies shall read:

 

a. Attached Agencies refer to agencies attached to the DepEd for policy and program coordination, including those wherein the DepEd is a member of the governing board, such as, the Early Childhood Care and Development Council (ECCD Council), National Academy of Sports (NAS), National Book Development Board (NBDB), National Council for Children's Television (NCCT), National Museum of the Philippines (NMP), and the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA). (a)

 

b. The following additional terms, Official Local Travel Authority, and Locator Slip, shall be expressly defined and inserted as Item III(d) and III(e):

 

d. Locator Slip refers to a written authority granted by the Head of Office or his/her authorized representative, allowing an official or employee of the DepEd to travel and attend activities/events/errands or perform an assigned task that would require him/her to be outside of his/her permanent station or workplace during office hours within a day, for an entire day, or for a period not exceeding one day. (n)

 

e. Official Local Travel Authority refers to a written authorization issued by the Approving Authority for a subordinate official or employee to proceed to a specific place or location outside of his/her permanent official station for a period of more than one day to perform a given task or assignment. 

 

Consequently, the terms previously defined under Items III(d-i) shall be renumbered as items IIl(f-k).

 

6. The 2nd and 3rd par. of Item IV(B)(2) on Pre-Departure is modified to read as follows:

 

“xxx xxx xxx

 

The awarding of scholarships, fellowship and training grants shall at all times conform to the policy of transparency, accountability, equitable distribution and eligibility and shall be guided by the existing procedures/ process set by the Personnel Development Committee (PDC) of the Department of Education.

 

For other official foreign travels, the ICO shall clear all invitations to seminars/ activities/ events/ scholarships that will be held abroad except those that are sourced by officials/ employees in their personal capacity. For scholarships abroad or with a component of traveling abroad, the ICO shall secure the review and concurrence of the PDC before any clearance can be given. The ICO, together with the concerned Undersecretary or Assistant Secretary, shall identify and recommend the representatives and/ or delegates for the Secretary's approval. For foreign official travels involving field personnel and teachers, the Regional Directors and Superintendents shall nominate, evaluate and recommend the travel requests of their respective personnel prior to endorsement to the Central Office.

 

xxx xxx xxx"

 

7. Consultants of and/or those engaged under Contract of Service by the Department shall not be issued foreign travel authorities and shall not be entitled to government funding for such trips, except in highly meritorious circumstances (e.g., unavailability of qualified employees in highly technical or specialized fields), and upon written justification submitted to the authorized approving official/s. For purposes of this section, and for such local travel authorizations, as may be contractually stipulated and/ or allowed by law or regulation, the authorized approving official/s shall refer to the supervising Undersecretary, Assistant Secretary, or other 3rd level official designated as the DepEd signatory to the contract of service or consultancy.

 

8. This Order shall not preclude the Secretary of Education from signing documents, if necessary, in the interest of service, and from exercising her authority and mandate under Republic Act No. 9155, Executive Order No. 292, s. 1987, and other existing laws.

 

9. For more information, please contact the Office of Undersecretary for Human Resource and Organizational Development and Bureau of Human Resource and Organizational Development-Personnel Division, Department of Education Central Office, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City through email at usec.hrod@deped.gov.ph and bhrod.pd@deped.gov.ph or at telephone numbers (02) 8636-6549 and (02) 8631-8494.

 

10. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

 

 

(SGD) SARA Z. DUTERTE

Vice President and Secretary

 

Reference:

            DepEd Order (Nos. 043, s. 2022)

 

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index

            Under the following subjects:

 

AMENDMENT

AUTHORITY

BUREAUS AND OFFICES

EMPLOYEES

EXPENSES

OFFICIALS

POLICY

RULES AND REGULATIONS

TRAVEL

 

 

Full copy of DepEd Order No. 046, s. 2022: