Sara-ACT word war rages on

MANILA, Philippines — What started out as differences over classroom congestion and school security now has Vice President Sara Duterte and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) clawing at each other with accusations of being “fake” leaders in the education sector.

Yesterday, the Vice President and the ACT continued to trade barbs over their policy differences, with the group defending its affiliate party-list’s representation in Congress for over a decade.

“Since it was formed and has joined the electoral race in 2010, the ACT Teachers party-list has never lost any elections due to the consistent support of teachers and education support personnel in the public and private sector,” ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said.

“It is through the ACT Teachers party-list that our legitimate demands for salary increases, just benefits, higher budget and many other meaningful educational reforms saw proposal and legislation. It is also through the ACT Teachers party-list’s efforts that the public school teachers’ right to form unions was realized, so that we can independently and more effectively advance the interests of education workers and the whole sector through our collective strength,” he added.

Quetua was responding to Duterte’s statement last Thursday accusing House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro of being a “fake” representative of education stakeholders in Congress.

“It is Sara Duterte’s authenticity and legitimacy as an education leader that is highly questionable. Eight months in office and she has not satisfactorily addressed any single problem in the education sector, nor fulfilled any of her promises,” said Quetua.

“No teaching overload pay, no respite from non-teaching duties, no timely and ample benefits. Worse, she has contradicted the clamor of our teachers from the ground for salary increase, building more classrooms and hiring more teachers,” he added.

Duterte, in response, said the Department of Education (DepEd) has made strides in addressing its problems now that she is the secretary.

“With the help of our partners, the department has successfully reopened schools and restarted on-site learning – a decision that was vehemently opposed and criticized by ACT Teachers,” Duterte said.

“What would have happened to our learners if we allowed the demand of ACT Teachers to prevail over the urgency to reopen face-to-face learning?” she added.

Duterte also touted the “Matatag Agenda” that she launched last January, which sought to address the different gaps hounding the education sector.

“ACT Teachers, meanwhile, has been in Congress for 12 years now. Yet the education sector remains besieged by a string of problems,” she said.

“For 12 years, ACT Teachers has been claiming to represent teachers in Congress. Yet our public school personnel continue to face financial woes and we have a generation of learners that are facing several challenges. What has this self-proclaimed education sector representative done to remedy the problems we are facing now?” added the Vice President.

The ACT refuted Duterte’s claim that it was against the safe school reopening class, saying it was her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, “who repeatedly refused to lift a finger to prepare and open schools safely amid the pandemic.”