Teachers to organize ‘sit-in’ protests

MANILA, Philippines — Members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) will organize today a sit-in protest to call for salary increase for public school teachers nationwide.

The ACT said the regular flow of classes would be interrupted during the strike, with teacher-protesters expected to inform students about social issues instead of the usual lessons.

“We would make the students, parents and the public understand that our action would not just be for ourselves, but for every person’s right to live a decent life,” the group said in Filipino.

The Department of Education (DepEd) said it would monitor the activities, noting that protest actions should not result in disruption of classes.

“They are supposed to know the law, they are supposed to know civil service regulations. As the Department of Education, we teach our learners to obey the law, to obey rules and regulations,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.

Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said the plan of the teachers to teach a topic outside of the curriculum is not allowed.  

“The department has allowed the expression of teachers of their positions through some actions that we have seen,” Malaluan said.

“The requirement is that this cannot result in the disruption of classes, so we will see what kind of protest… We will certainly check the schools where teachers would conduct such actions,” he added.

The ACT is calling for the adjustment of teacher salaries, particularly to make the entry-level salary of a Teacher 1 – which is currently at P20,000 per month – similar to a Police Officer 1 receiving P30,000 per month.

The group also raised concerns over other policies, including the loan restructuring with the Government Service Insurance System and the implementation of the K-12 system.