Militants ‘padlock’ gate near Malacañang, DBM for inaction on teachers’ plight

Published May 19, 2014 11:27am

(Updated 1:11 p.m.) Militant teachers on Monday symbolically padlocked a gate near the Department of Budget and Management's head office and Malacañang in Manila, to protest what they called the government's inaction to teachers' plight.

The protesters from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers padlocked the Solano Gate near the Palace, which is near the DBM, radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported.

A separate report on GMA News TV's News to Go said the teachers also hung a "Notice of Temporary Closure" at the gate over the government's supposed failure to act on teachers' calls for a wage hike.

The teachers also scored what they claimed was the lack of attention from President Benigno Aquino III and DBM Secretary Florencio Abad to their situation.

During their protest, the teachers called for an increase in their entry-level wages to P25,000 from the present P18,549.

Also, they demanded an increase in the minimum wages of government workers from P9,000 to P15,000.

The militants threatened to mount more protest actions if Aquino and the DBM remain deaf to their calls.

Mass leave

The militants also hinted at the possibility of teachers going on a mass leave once classes start on June 2.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro on Monday, however, cautioned teachers against pushing through with this threat.

"We enjoin these groups not to take any action that will unduly affect the delivery of basic services to our learners," Luistro said in a text message to reporters.

Luistro, however, said they must "draw the line at abandoning our children."

"As educators and civil servants let us always keep the interest of our learners in mind," he said.

But Luistro noted that the DepEd will not object to any measure that will help public school teachers.

"As long as there is adequate funding, a raise in teachers' salaries will be welcome. We also recognize the right of our teachers to raise their concerns publicly," he said.

ACT claimed its Metro Manila chapter covers 55,000 public school teachers in 768 schools. It claims to have 100,000 members nationwide.

Meanwhile, the protest ended peacefully, with the militants removing the padlock before leaving. —Joel Locsin and Kimberly Jane Tan/KG, GMA News

Tags: teachersprotest, allianceofconcernedteachers, departmentofeducation, arminluistro