Para saan? Group alarmed by DepEd’s profiling of teachers

By Billy Begas

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) sound the alarm over a new move to profile teachers who are members of progressive organizations.

Division officials of the Department of Education (DepEd), ACT said are gathering information about the number of their members in compliance with the instruction of Education Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo.

“Bakit at para saan?” asked ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio.

The group believed that the move was “in bad faith” since the agency continues to ignore ACT’s requests for dialogues despite being an accredited union in 12 regions and the sole and exclusive negotiating agent (SENA) in the other five regions.

Aside from, DepEd is also asking for the numbers of Teachers Dignity Coalition.

“This is eerily reminiscent of the 2019 police profiling of our members, which preluded worse attacks on our members and on our very organization. And DepEd has done nothing to protect us from these,” Basilio said.

Basilio added that two teacher-unionists have been “unjustly jailed over trumped up cases—Teacher Lai Consad and Teacher Nestor Ada, with the latter still incarcerated more than 2 months since he fell victim to the notorious ‘tanim-ebidensya’ police modus.”

“So we’re understandably alarmed at your sudden interest with our members,” he added.

Basilio urged DepEd to immediately stop their information-gathering and instead face ACT in a dialogue and answer the issues and challenges that confront teachers.

DepEd is a member of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which Basilio said “red-tag ACT in the media, in seminars, and who has been reported to harass leaders and members of progressive groups.”

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)