The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), its affiliate organizations, and teachers launched a protest rally and other activities to mark the opening of Teachers’ Month on September 5. They presented the long-standing calls and demands of teachers and workers in the education sector.

Bacolod City teachers conducted a caravan under the leadership of the Bacolod City Public School Teachers Federation. Teachers and their supporters from different schools attended. After the caravan, they launched a meeting to prepare for a larger action on Teachers’ Day on October 5.

Meanwhile, teachers in each school under the ACT NCR Union in Metro Manila held gatherings. Some schools held snack parties.

Teachers at the ACT-Philippines national office held a press conference where they laid out the 5-point grievances and demands of the teachers for the Marcos regime.

First, significant wage increases must be implemented in the education sector. They condemned Marcos for the very low salary increase for teachers and government employees by virtue of Executive Order (EO) 64 which granted only ₱25-₱50/day increase. They said this is a big insult to teachers amid the Marcos regime’s promise to double the daily allowance of the military which will go up to ₱350 per day by 2025.

They demand ₱50,000 monthly salary for entry-level teachers, ₱33,000 for Salary Grade 1 employees; Salary Grade 16 or ₱41,616 for those in the Instructor 1 category; and equal wages in public and private schools.

Second, the education budget should be doubled. ACT said the government must meet the United Nations standard of least 6% of the country’s GDP be allocated for education.

“Teachers and students are the casualties of the state’s continued neglect, where the education budget is only a miserable half of what the UN recommends,” Vladimer Quetua, ACT Chairperson, said. In this regard, we need to build an additional 250,000 classrooms and employ an additional 50,000 teachers.

Third, the MATATAG curriculum must be scrapped. The group said this curriculum brings nothing but overwork and torment for teachers. The curriculum outlined shorter teaching hours for each subject which means additional work to the already burdened teachers.

Fourth, provide funding for teachers’ benefits. They specifically referred to the granting of overtime compensation, special hardship allowance, an increase in the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance from ₱2,000 to ₱5,000, 15 days sick leave, GSIS reforms and others.

Fifth, end the attacks against teachers, unionism and schools. “Our unions and congressional representatives are both under constant attack,” Quetua said. These attacks include Red-tagging, unjustly convicting ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro and Talaingod 13, filing fabricated cases and abduction of their organizers and unionists, violation of academic freedom and many other human rights violations againts the sector.

ACT is expected to launch various activities and actions in the coming days until Teachers’ Day on October 5.