ACT TEACHERS Partylist Rep. France Castro on Friday expressed alarm over the alleged attempts of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to enter schools to vilify teachers’ unions.

Castro said that her group received information that uniformed personnel in Calapan City attempted to enter public schools and conduct information dissemination drives to spread awareness regarding the alleged recruitment of teachers and students in accordance to Executive Order 70.

“Red-tagging our teachers, their unions and their leaders have no place in our public schools. These so-called information dissemination drives only contain vilification, red-tagging and terror tagging of progressive individuals and organizations,” she said.

“Nauna pa ang pag-priority sa pagsasagawa ng mga pulis at militar ng face-to-face red-tagging at mga atake laban sa mga lider-guro at sa kanilang unyon kaysa ang ligtas na balik face-to-face na eskuwela,” Castro added.

The lawmaker reiterated that schools should be safe spaces for teachers and students. Members of the military and police should not be allowed to enter campuses especially if their objective is to terrorize and vilify the legitimate demands of teachers and the leaders of their unions.

“Ligtas na balik-eskuwela ang panawagan ng mga kaguruan, mag-aaral at kanilang mga magulang, hindi face-to-face red-tagging at harassment sa loob ng kanilang mga paaralan,” Castro stressed.

The lawmaker asked the Department of Education to protect teachers and student from the baseless and dangerous activities of state security forces.