Tell Philippine government: "Hands off our teachers"
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 124 No 2, 15 March 2019, page no. 6
Teacher unionists in the Philippines are being profiled and harassed by their government, in contravention of commonly agreed human rights.
A leaked Manila Police District profiling memorandum has revealed that the police were ordered to “conduct an inventory” of all educators who were members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT). Since the leaked document was made public, 34 teacher-unionists from at least 10 regions have reported continuing surveillance and aggravating harassments against ACT leaders and members.
During a press conference on 21 February, former ACT General Secretary France Castro explained how she and 17 other colleagues were detained on false allegations last November. The group was detained while visiting Indigenous Lumad schools on a humanitarian and solidarity mission in the municipality of Davao del Norte. These schools had been forcibly closed by the military, causing the displacement of more than 346,000 people.
ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio has publicly denounced the continuous harassment of the union’s membership. A petition to the Court of Appeals is pending, and includes examples of severe harassment, such as one public school teacher in Escalante city whose classroom was ransacked. Indeed, Basilio himself has been the subject of harassment, receiving a death threat during an ACT press conference in January.
Unionists globally have expressed solidarity with the ACT. General Secretary David Edwards, General Secretary of the global teaching union Education International, was a guest speaker at a recent ACT-organised #HandsOffOurTeachers rally.
He said: “There are forces that demonise us, the teachers, because they know how good and influential we are,” he said. “We condemn and denounce the oppression and surveillance against our teachers.”
What can you do?
- Sign the petition to the Philippine authorities at www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=4019
- Promote the petition to colleagues, union members and networks on Facebook and Twitter.