Updates

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers and the more than 500,000 public school teachers that it represents, considers the Joint Resolution No. 36 under Committee Report 1992 - otherwise known as the SSL3 - unacceptable for the following reasons:

1. The wage hike proposed under Joint Resolution No. 36 under Committee Report 1992 or SSL3 falls short of the 9,000-peso salary upgrade (P3,000 yearly increase in 3 years which will increase the entry-level salary of a new teacher from a measly P12,026 to P21,026 per month) that teachers demand.

We, teachers and workers in the education sector belonging to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, the largest teachers organization nationwide, condemn in the highest possible term the malicious filing of a wiretapping case by Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Vice President for Public Relations and Communications Ella E. Valencerina against esteemed journalist and journalism professor Cecilia “Cheche” Lazaro.

Various teachers’ organizations today held a forum on the right to literacy as part of a global campaign for education rights. Throughout the world, educators and education advocates have been holding numerous activities from April 20 to 26, designated as Global Action Week for Education For All.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers lauded several representatives belonging to the minority bloc in Congress for continuing to push for a P9,000 salary increase for public school teachers.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today expressed apprehension at reports that one of the teachers kidnapped by unidentified abductors earlier this month in Zamboanga Sibugay has died while in captivity.
 

Members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers gathered today at the Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City to demand justice for murdered schoolteacher Rebelyn Pitao.

Around fifty teachers lit candles, carried streamers and placards, and held a program to condemn the murder of their fallen colleague in the teaching profession.

Pitao, 20, a schoolteacher in Davao City , was abducted and killed by a group of armed men last March 4. Her body was found in an irrigation ditch in Carmen, Davao del Norte. The body bore signs of torture.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today condemned the abduction and murder of a young private school teacher in Davao City . Rebelyn Pitao, 20, was a substitute teacher at the elementary department of the St. Peter’s College of Toril .

    The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today criticized a proposed public sector wage hike bill pending in the House of Representativesfor favoring military and uniformed personnel over employees in the civilian bureaucracy.
    According to ACT national chairman Antonio Tinio, House Joint Resolution No. 24 will grant higher pay increases to military and police personnel relative to professionals in the civilian bureaucracy, such as teachers, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and doctors.

Reference: Antonio L. Tinio (0920-9220817), ACT National Chairperson
                William Alterado, (0920-6728592) ACT Cebu City Chapter Chairperson

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers launched its nationwide campaign to demand refunds from the Government Service Insurance System in Cebu City yesterday.

Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus today ordered the agency’s National Uniform Committee to reconvene and revise a controversial policy directing that a portion of the yearly clothing allowance of public school teachers be paid in kind rather than in cash.

“I have instructed Usec. [for Finance Teodoro] Sangil to reconvene the committee and revise,” said Lapus to a delegation of teacher-leaders of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers who trooped to the DepEd central office in Pasig to discuss the issue with DepEd officials.