The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday, January 26, said that it would conduct a probe into reports of teachers allegedly buying ready-made research papers to get promoted.

“Maghahanap tayo ng mga pruweba na nangyayari nga ito. Gusto po namin, ‘yung mga nagrereport mismo ay magbigay ng detalye para po mas maging madali ang pag-i-imbestiga at pagbibigay ng tamang atensyon sa mga ganyang gawain,” Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said in a virtual press briefieng.

(We’e going to look for evidence to prove this is actually happening. What we want is for those who reported this to give enough details so we could hasten our investigation and we could give proper attention to this kind of work.)

This development comes after Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate basic education committee, urged the DepEd to look into the issue after a Facebook post claimed that teachers are buying research papers or paying people to do their research for them.

Gatchalian also urged DepEd to “institute mechanisms” that would “thoroughly vet research output” submitted by teachers.

“Ang maliwanag po, alam ko kahit po si Secretary Liling [Briones], researcher ‘yan and professor, hindi niya papayagan na gagawing intellectual prostitute ang mga ibang sektor ng ating lipunan,” San Antonio said.

(What is clear is that Secretary Liling Briones, a researcher and professor, will not allow for other sectors of society to be treated as intellectual prostitutes.)

He added that he has been receiving this kind of reports before, but no evidence was found during their previous investigations. – Rappler.com