Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 23) — Makabayan bloc lawmakers have filed a resolution condemning the Department of Education’s (DepEd) order to its local offices to submit a list of teachers affiliated with ACT Teachers Party-list.

DepEd issued a memorandum dated June 14 with a subject \”Request for Submission of the List of ACT Union-Affiliated Teachers Who are Availing of the Automatic Payroll Deduction System.\”
The memo came from Revsee Escobedo, the department’s undersecretary for operations, addressing regional directors and division superintendents to submit the list by June 21.
The document was not published on the agency’s website, but can be found on the website of DepEd Calabarzon. DepEd Cordillera, on the other hand, posted a regional memorandum showing the template for the supposed list to be submitted.
In its resolution filed at the House of Representatives, the Makabayan bloc led by ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro condemned the \” profiling operations\” of the agency against the teachers’ group, adding it also violated the Data Privacy Act.
\”DepEd’s profiling operations against ACT and their members are highly alarming and a clear violation of their basic rights. The disclosure and processing of their personal information and sensitive personal information without their consent is a direct attack on their privacy and security,\” the resolution read.
\”Whereas, given the lack of declared legitimate purpose from the face of the order from the Central Office and the fact that no rule or regulation permits such consolidation and submission of the data, the profiling directive is apparently intended to be politically motivated,\” it said.
\”This is especially true since DepEd Secretary (Sara) Duterte is the co-chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communism and Armed Conflict and has made no secret of her baseless view that progressive organizations such as ACT and ACT Teachers Party-List are ‘communist fronts,’\” it added.
DepEd has yet to respond to CNN Philippines’ request for comment.
A similar event happened in 2019 where, in a letter, the school division office of Manila forwarded to school heads in the city a memorandum of the Philippine National Police (PNP) ordering the inventory of educators affiliated with the group.
DepEd later recalled the endorsement letter of the school division office.

At the time, the Commission on Human Rights urged the agency to “unequivocally speak up in defense of ACT and to provide them with sufficient protection and support especially to those whose personal information have been released.”

No personal info of teachers turned over to gov’t entities, DepEd says