By LITO RULONA Correspondent THE Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) would start a fact-finding work on allegations of sexual harassment, lascivious conduct and abuse of authority against City Central School principal Arnold Tejero. Ophelia Tabacon, ACT vice chairperson for northern Mindanao, said the organization’s national headquarters gave her group here the green light to look into the allegations haunting Tejero. Dr. Tejero has been accused of sexual harassment by a teacher under him, and acts of lasciviousness by the mother of a 5th grader before the City Prosecutor’s Office and the Office of the Ombudsman, respectively. The complainants also accused Tejero of grave abuse of authority and grave misconduct. Tabacon said ACT would gather the facts first, and these would be the basis of its future move in connection with the controversy surrounding the principal of the region’s most populous public school. “Aron dili kita matawag nga biased, fact-finding must be done aron mahibaw-an kung unsa gyud ang real issue nga nahitabo diha sulod sa City Central School nga gikalambigitan sa ilang principal,” she said. Tabacon said ACT was also concerned about the alleged sexual and verbal harassments against City Central School teachers, and would try to document instances when these were supposedly commited. Tabacon said the ACT’s fact-finding work would be a “parallel investigation” and independent from the investigations that would be conducted by the ombudsman and prosecutors. She said the ACT investigators would base their recommendations on their findings. Tabacon said ACT has sent a letter to the Department of Education (Deped) schools division superintendent, and was waiting for a response from Deped and the City Central School administration. “Kung unsa ang ilang comment diha na pud ta magsugod sa atong second part of the investigation. In this level, we would be extending moral, psycho-social and legal assistance to the victim(s). We have to dig deeper,” she said. Tabacon said ACT has had initial talks with one of the alleged victims. “Ang struggle sa mga kababaenhan is struggle usab sa ACT. Psychologically, traumatic kini sa mga victims. A teacher needs protection from any forms of harassment. Misamot kay mga babae ang nabiktima and then dunay dignidad isip usa ka maestra,” she said. The Alliance is a progressive, militant and nationalist organization of teachers, academic non-teaching personnel and non-academic non-teaching personnel. It is the largest non-traditional teachers’ organization in the country which works for the economic and political well-being of teachers and all other education workers as well as for genuine social transformation.