Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 26) – The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) on Monday said it has reached out to the National Privacy Commission (NPC) to discuss the possible violations of a Department of Education (DepEd) memo that supposedly targets unions.
In a press conference, ACT Secretary-General Raymond Basilio said the group is weighing possible legal remedies regarding a DepEd memo issued last June 14 requiring school officials to submit a list of ACT Union-affiliated teachers availing of DepEd’s automatic payroll deduction system (APDS).
\”Ano ang purpose ng paglabas ng memorandum na ito? Nais nito maghasik ng takot sa mga guro at members ng Alliance of Concerned Teachers upang magpatuloy ang ginagawa na hindi makapag-operate ang ACT. Pagpapatahimik ito. Union-busting ito sa madaling sabi,” Basilio said.
[Translation: What is the purpose of the release of this memorandum? It wants to sow fear among teachers and members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers so that ACT can’t operate. This is union-busting.]
DepEd previously released a memorandum asking all local units to submit a list of teachers affiliated with ACT.
RELATED: ACT: DepEd ‘profiling’ memo risks teachers’ privacy and safety
But the agency earlier denied ACT’s allegations, saying the move is part of its program to update and centralize its systems.
“Hindi naman po yung union yung sinulatan natin ‘no. Ang sinulatan natin ay yung field offices natin. Bakit? Kasi may kanya-kanyang APDS yan, so gusto natin i-connect ngayon ang systems natin. Nasa kanila po ang listahan, so kailangan nila ibigay sa central office nang sa ganon ay updated din ang database ng central office,” DepEd spokesman Michael Poa explained.
[Translation: We didn’t write to the union. We wrote to our field offices. Why? Because they have their own APDS, so we want to connect our systems now. The list is with them so they need to give it to the central office so that the central office database is also updated.]
