ALLIANCE OF CONCERNED TEACHERS

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today denounced the killing of peasant leader Fermin Lorico in Dumaguete City yesterday.

Lorico was shot in the back of the head by unidentified gunmen soon after speaking at an anti-charter change rally at 4 p.m. yesterday. He was the leader of the Kahugpongan alang sa Ugma sa Gagmay’ng Mag-uuma sa Oriental Negros (Kaugmaon), a militant peasant group affiliated with the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). Lorico was a national council member of the KMP.

Militant teachers and education workers led by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers held a protest action at a high school this afternoon to denounce renewed attempts by the Arroyo administration to push through with Charter change.

ACT held the protest during the midday break outside the Ramon Magsaysay High School along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue in Quezon City . It was attended by public school teachers as well as university faculty and employees.

We, the members of ACT Teachers Partylist, denounce the efforts made by the Arroyo administration to push for changes in the 1987 Constitution and to prolong her stay in power beyond 2010.

We condemn the railroading of the pro-Administration congressmen, who approved House Resolution 1109, which called for the convening of a constituent assembly

When an incumbent president is guilty of graft and corruption, massive electoral fraud, human rights violations and the worst forms of complicity to imperialist plunder and violence, any move that will indefinitely extend her power must be opposed absolutely.

The formation of a Constitutional Assembly that will eventually adopt changes to the Constitution is yet another attempt by the U.S.-Arroyo regime to use the rule of law as a means for felonious ends.

Public school teachers will be marching in the streets as schools reopen on Monday, June 1, to condemn the impending passage of the so-called “Salary Standardization Law 3” (SSL 3), which seeks to grant pay hikes to public sector employees over the next four years.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers will lead 500 public school teachers in a march to the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 1.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today picketed the office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Quezon City this morning to call for swift government action to secure the release of three kidnapped public school teachers.

The three, Noemi Navales Mandi, 38, Jocelyn Inion, 39, and Jocelyn Enriquez, 43, all teachers of Bangkaw-Bangkaw Elementary School in Zamboanga Sibugay, were abducted by armed men last March 13. Their captors are demanding a ransom of Php 6 million for their release.