The Alliance of Concerned Teachers is set to join the national protest against the compromise agreement between the Hacienda Luisita management and a number of the estate’s farmers and farm workers on August 18.

“To support the farmers’ cause is the sacred duty of every Filipino. We all eat and consume rice and other farm products, thus we cannot be silent on the issue of land reform. This affects us all,” said ACT Secretary General, Ms. France Castro..

“When Winston Garcia was the President and General Manager of GSIS, policies were approved and implemented through mere board resolutions. These policies were unlawful and have caused hardships on the GSIS members”, Ms. France Castro, the Secretary General of ACT related.

These policies are the Premium-Based Policy and CLIP or the Claims and Loan Interdependency Program of the GSIS.

The Secretary of Education has announced that the details of this K plus 12 program will be made public on October 5, World Teachers Day.

He noted that it is not just the question of adding more years but giving the Filipino youth a holistic education curriculum that will prepare them for real life. While PNoy  included in his first SONA, this new program as part of his reform projects aside from upgrading education facilities and plugging the gap in classrooms, teachers and textbook shortages.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) today called on the lawmakers to prioritize in their investigation the “excessive” salaries and allowances of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) executives, under its former President and General Manager Winston Garcia.

“The thorny issue of land distribution is once again awaiting a decisive action by PNoy. He should remember, that it was hailed then as a landmark law during her mother’s term as president of this land. So what are you waiting for Pnoy?”, said Ms.France  Castro, Secretary-general of Alliance of Concerned Teachers.  “Those farmers have waited for more than twenty years and so justice must be served,” she added.