ACT Teachers vehemently condemns threats of child abuse cases to be filed against the teachers of “missing” students by the Philippine National Police at the Senate hearing witch hunt.
We strongly condemn the witch hunt Senate hearing yesterday where the Philippine National Police vowed to file child abuse cases against the teachers of youth activists tagged as “missing.”
Instead of focusing on the perennial problems on the lack of basic social services for the poor, the Senate prioritizes a witch hunt that vilifies, criminalizes legitimate calls of legal organizations of the youth and of other sectors. Senator dela Rosa even further said that he wanted teachers who urge their students to join rallies be removed, saying that students are enrolled in schools to become professionals and not to go against the government. This is the same senator who said “shit happens” when asked to react on the death of a two-year-old in the war against drugs.
Rallies forward legitimate calls for salary increase, adequate social services, an end to contractualization, an end to the killings, land to the farmers and benefits for our workers. These are legitimate calls of the Filipino people that the Senate hearing continues to demonize and criminalize.
Instead of witch hunting, we urge the Senate to focus on addressing the calls of those who join rallies and listen to the struggles of activists from all sectors in society. Farmers are hungry, workers do not have regular jobs, teachers are overworked and underpaid, the youth do not have access to basic social services and are deprived of their basic rights. These should be our priority. Not the demonization and criminalization of legitimate and legal struggles of the Filipino people.
The PNP and Senator dela Rosa blame the teachers for simply doing their job. To teach the youth to be critical thinkers and to become better human beings. Teachers teach their students how to use their profession to help the society. This requires being aware of our history and current events. Teachers are honing our youth to be critically thinking and socially minded humans, not robots. — France L. Castro, representative, ACT Teachers
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