PH teachers mark World Teachers' Day with rally vs. corruption

Filipino teachers walked out of their classrooms and marched under the rain to commemorate World Teachers' Day with a call for urgent reforms in the education sector and accountability over the ongoing corruption scandal involving flood control projects.

Armed with umbrellas and raincoats, teachers trooped to Mendiola in Manila City while similar protest actions were held across the country. They also renewed their long-standing call for a higher education budget and decent wages.

In Metro Manila, the Alliance for Concerned Teachers (ACT) held a satirical "game show" that supposedly exposed "poor deals" offered by the government to the education sector. 

The program organizers lamented overloaded teaching workloads, meager salaries, cuts to General Education (GE) and Senior High School (SHS) subjects, and alleged militarization of schools. 

All of these burden the education sector, ACT said, while billions of pesos are allegedly lost to  kickbacks in infrastructure projects, pork barrel, and confidential funds.

"Para bang palabas lang ang ginagawa ng gobyerno: nagbubunutan ng proyekto, naghahati-hati ng kickbak, at nilalaro ang pondo ng bayan. Pero ang mga guro at estudyante, ang kabataan at mamamayan—hindi nananalo rito. Wala kaming premyo sa sistemang bulok, kundi kahirapan at panganib," said ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua.

(It's as if the government is putting on a show: drawing lots for projects, dividing kickbacks amongst themselves, and playing games with public funds. However, teachers and students, the youth and the people, do not win here. We do not win any prizes in this rotten system, only poverty and danger.) 

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos has vowed to fulfill the constitutional mandate of assigning the highest budgetary priority to the education sector in the proposed 2026 national budget.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has stressed that for the first time ever, the Philippines would meet the UNESCO benchmark for education spending at 4% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) under the proposed budget.

The flood control projects controversy, however, has added to the protesters' resentment as lavish lifestyles of implicated politicians, public works officials, contractors, and their families go viral on social media and tackled in government investigations.

"Habang ipinagkakait sa amin ang disenteng pasilidad at sapat na suweldo, ginagawang gatasan ng mga tiwaling opisyal ang kaban ng bayan. Ang tunay na resulta: bulok na gusali, bulok na serbisyo, at lalong pagdausdos ng kalidad ng edukasyon," Quetua stressed.

(While decent facilities and adequate salaries are denied to us, corrupt officials are milking public funds. The real result: dilapidated buildings, poor services, and a further decline in the quality of education.)

GMA News Online has requested comment from the DepEd and Commission on Higher Education regarding the protesters' call, but these have yet to respond as of posting time.

During the demonstrations, ACT conveyed their urgent demands from the government, including a substantial salary increase for teachers and education support personnel; doubling of the education budget to 6% of GDP; and an end to alleged attacks on teachers' rights.

"Kung patuloy na magbubulag-bulagan ang estado, dapat nilang paghandaan ang mas malalaking dagundong ng pagkilos," Quetua noted.

(If the state continues to turn a blind eye, they should brace themselves for stronger protests.) — VDV, GMA Integrated News