THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers slammed the Department of Education for ‘gaslighting’ its members after Education Secretary Leonor Briones claimed that the inventory of its membership is part of “standard requirements for legitimate organizations to be recognized.”

The group said that DepEd’s justification is a “cover up” of the true motive behind the move.

“Shame on DepEd for this obvious attempt to gaslight us. They know full well the standing of our unions as we have dutifully submitted all requirements to relevant agencies, which was precisely how we gained the status of being a registered union in 11 regions and the sole and exclusive negotiating agent in the other five,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

“It is publicly known how we’ve worked together as union and employer before they were put under the NTF-ELCAC in late 2018 and they stopped talking to us, even in the face of multiple vile attacks against our rank. Enough with the lies and the smokescreen, DepEd. Recant the order and face us in a dialogue, answer our mounting concerns with distance learning and these attacks on our unions,” he added.

Last month, the group slammed a DILG memorandum that ordered an inventory and the investigation of COURAGE members.

In the said order, DILG revealed that it attended an “undisclosed and confidential” meeting where COURAGE and ACT were identified as fronts of communist terrorist groups.”

“These beg the question, was DepEd part of that ‘undisclosed and confidential’ meeting? Further, is the ongoing profiling part two of ACT members a result of that meeting just as the DILG order was?” Basilio said.

The group said the order was “concerningly similar” to the red scare in the US after World War II, where then US Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed that there was a ‘widespread communist infiltration of the American government’.