The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines led thousands of teachers, education workers, and students in a walkout for education and against corruption under the Marcos regime on October 3. They presented their six-point demand to the Marcos regime.

Among these are the following: an increase in salaries and benefits for teachers and staff, in the education budget to 6% of the country’s gross domestic product, accountability for the corrupt and plunderers, an end to attacks on teachers’ rights and military interference in schools, rejection of the colonial, commercialized, and repressive education system, and opposition to foreign intervention and warmongering.

They marched under the rain from España Boulevard to Mendiola in Manila. The demonstration is part of their marking of the annual October 5 World Teachers’ Day.

“World Teachers’ Day is not a simple celebration this year. Corrupt officials are starving, neglecting, and using people as milking cows, using funds supposedly for education,” ACT Philippines chairperson Vladimer Quetua said. He stated that the teachers are justified with collectively responding to these issues by demanding accountability and standing up for salary, education, and rights.

The teacher-leader added that while teachers and students drown in neglect, officials pocket billions with impunity and turn projects into sources of kickbacks. “This is a clear picture of the decaying system of bureaucrat capitalism,” said Quetua.

Several government anomalies and corruption cases in the education sector have been exposed. “While the nation is short of 165,000 classrooms, reports that over 1,000 newly built substandard and thus unusable classrooms is infuriating,” ACT National Capital Region (NCR) Union said.

The union also condemned bureaucrat capitalists and politicians for possibly turning other Department of Education (DepEd) projects into cash cows. These include the ₱5.6 billion fund for the feeding program spent on spoiled food (2023); ₱6.9 billion unliquidated cash advances of DepEd (2023); ₱2.4 billion worth of overpriced and outdated DepEd laptops (2021); ₱150 million in confidential funds of DepEd squandered by Sara Duterte (2022); and ₱370 million in DepEd service vehicles (2019).

According to the union, this list of anomalies is even longer compared to any other administration because systemic corruption is deeply ingrained in government. [don’t know what the original text means, sorry,] “We must stop tolerating the theft of public funds. From the highest officials down to contractors and their patrons in Congress and Malacañang—hold all those involved accountable! Prosecute and imprison the plunderers and return the stolen funds to the people,” it said.

Walkout at PNU

Philippine Normal University (PNU) education students joined the teachers and education workers walkout. PNU is the leading university training teachers and education sector workers.

Around 1,000 students walked out of their classrooms and held a protest on campus that day. It was the largest mobilization at the university in almost two decades. After their campus program, they joined the assembly of teachers at España Boulevard before marching to Mendiola.

The PNU University Student Council Central Student Council (USC CSC) led the mobilization of campus organizations. At least 84 organizations signed the unified statement drafted by the council.

“The education students, student leaders, student organizations, and the PNU broader community stand for wages, jobs, education, accountability, and sovereignty,” the statement said.

They also urged PNU professors and administrators to support the students’ walkout and for leniency in their classes and activities on the protest day.

Aside from PNU, University of the Philippines Diliman College of Education student groups also held a local assembly before joining the march to Mendiola.

Suppression of protest in Iloilo City

ACT Panay also joined the day of protest by rallying in front of the DepEd office in La Paz, Iloilo City. Against their right to free expression and assembly, police dispersed and dismantled the protest of the teachers and their supporters, claiming the group had no protest permit.

The groups condemned the suppression of the protest. “In a blatant attempt to silence the protesters, police even tried to seize the megaphone to stop the program,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Panay explained.

Police repeatedly threatened to arrest those gathered unless they stop protesting. “This is a tactic of intimidation that has no basis in law and was clearly meant to instill fear and suppress the people’s right to protest,” Bayan-Panay said further.

The group also reported that the police who stopped the protest were wearing bulletproof vests and were armed.