THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers called on the government to stop attacking various groups that aired dissent, including members of the education sector.

“We demand an end to the reigning culture of impunity and utter disregard for basic human rights, fundamental liberties, and rule of law under the present leadership,” Benjie Valbuena, ACT national chairperson, said in a statement.

Valbuena claimed that the education sector has not been exempt from state-sponsored attacks.

He said that at least three teachers had been arrested for criticizing public officials in connection with the government response to the pandemic.

“Since 2016, 178 of 216 Lumad schools have been shut down, disenfranchising 5,500 Lumad children. Two years ago, tertiary education institutions were baselessly accused of participating in a later debunked Red October plot to oust Duterte. In 2019, educators in both the public and private sectors were undue targets of nationwide police profiling, harassment, threats, redtagging, and even extrajudicial killings,” he said.

“Our schools have been called ‘communist breeding grounds’ while uniformed personnel sowed terror in our supposedly safe spaces. Our unions and organizations who champion our rights to decent salaries, better benefits, and other democratic rights have been vilified and brandished as terrorists without a modicum of proof,” he added.