THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers slammed the restoration of the Department of Education’s P150-million confidential fund in the agency’s 2023 budget.

ACT said that the real menace to the Filipino children’s future is the learning crisis and the declining quality of education due to lacking government support and not the recruitment into “illegal organizations.”

The group was reacting to AKO Bicol Partylist Representative Elizaldy Co’s defense of the restoration of the confidential fund.

“Gumagawa ng sariling multo ang pamunuan ng Kongreso at DepEd para ilusot ang confidential funds na hindi masisilip ng taumbayan kung paano gagastusin,” Vladimer Quetua, the group’s chairperson, said.

“We are 150 million times more worried with the severity of the learning crisis which is impossible for us to surmount if our students have no proper classrooms, no armchairs and textbooks, and our teachers hang by a thread due to overwork and low salaries,” Quetua added.

Quetua said that it is ridiculous that the government frighten Filipinos with the possibility of the youth being recruited into “illegal organizations” while claiming that armed rebellion has been decimated.

“Ang problema namin ay walang sapat na pondo para sa silid-aralan at mga kagamitan sa pag-aaral, kulang ang guro, walang laptop ang mga teacher, hindi nakakabuhay ng pamilya ang aming sweldo,” he stressed.