📷Alliance of Concerned Teachers -Philippines | Facebook
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines blasted Pres. Marcos Jr.’s continuing neglect on education and indifference toward teachers and education workers amid celebration of the National Teachers’ Month, culminating on October 5 as World Teachers’ Day (WTD). In a press conference today, ACT issued its five (5) WTD demands to the Marcos Jr. administration and the 2025 senatorial candidates challenging them to include in their agenda the pressing demands of over a million education workers from basic to higher education institutions in the public and private sector.
“We expect that on World Teachers’ Day, we will again be showered with sweet words that paint our profession as the noblest, but behind the praises, the president and his administration’s silence on our urgent pleas is deafening. The government continues to place the weight of the education crisis squarely on our shoulders while abandoning its responsibility to uphold our right to quality education. We challenge the president to back his words with action, and hear our call to double the education budget and raise our salaries and wages to decent and livable levels,” stated Vladimer Quetua, ACT Chairperson.
ACT’s also challenged candidates vying for a Senate seat to include the concerns of teachers and the entire education sector in their legislative agenda. The group is forwarding five major points for which they are demanding a response from the administration and the Senatorial candidates: (1) a substantial salary increase for teachers and education workers; (2) a higher budget to education equivalent to at least 6% of the GDP; (3) scrapping of the MATATAG curriculum; (4) adequate funding for new and expanded benefits; and (5) end to all forms of attacks on teachers and schools.
“As future lawmakers, our Senatorial candidates will hold great power to address the various issues hounding the education sector. Through the passing of pro-people legislation and ample allocation of needed funds, together we can begin to resolve the worsening crisis the Philippine education system. So we ask our Senatoriables to heed our calls and include these urgent matters in their legislative agenda. This way, the education sector can know as early as now who among the candidates can represent their interests,” Quetua ended.#
