Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde today announced that he relieved the intel officers who allegedly leaked the memo which ordered cops to create a list of members belonging to the militant teacher’s union Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).
Albayalde said in a press conference that the memo’s leakage caused “concern” among members of the ACT, Rappler reported.
“You’re not supposed to leak what you are doing, if there is really an order like that, especially so if you are creating unnecessary panic among these people,” he said, as quoted by the Philippine Star.
Albayalde said that he relieved the chiefs of the intelligence units in the Manila Police District’s Station 3, Quezon City Police District’s Station 6, and Zambales provincial police, reported The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The cops will be investigated for the alleged leak.
Despite their removal, the PNP chief denied that he ordered his men to conduct the alleged profiling.
“I will check on that. As far as I’m concerned, I did not sign anything like that,” he said.
While Albayalde washed his hands clean, he said that the creation of such a list does not break any laws.
He was quoted by Rappler as saying in a phone interview: “We are a repository of information. This is for our future reference, especially for things that are connected to our programs.”
He also said that the teachers on the list will not be targeted by the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
“Rest assured, the NCRPO is evidence-based. There’s nothing to worry about if there are no problems. We will not do anything illegal,” he said.
The ACT is a group that once earned the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. In October last year, Duterte-Carpio called ACT members terrorists and liars after they said that her city was the only place in the country that does not give allowances to public school teachers.
In an Instagram post, Duterte-Carpio said that the DepEd should dismiss these members from their ranks.
Meanwhile, in an interview published yesterday, ACT secretary-general Raymond Basilio told ABS-CBN News that members of the PNP have been visiting schools all over the country to ask for lists of ACT members and their allies.
Basilio said that cops have been visiting schools in Tarlac, Bulacan, Cebu, Sorsogon, Camarines Sur, Zambales, Manila, Navotas, Malabon and Agusan del Sur since the year started.
ABS-CBN News posted copies of the memos, including one memo from the Zambales Police Provincial Office instructing recipients to create a list of ACTs members in an Excel file.
The memo was dated Dec. 27, 2018 and signed by Pancho Doble, Zambales’ Police Chief Inspector.
In an interview with ABS-CBN, Doble confirmed that the memo was genuine.
ABS-CBN also published a document signed by DepEd’s Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Sheryll Gayola that refers to a Dec. 26, 2018 memo signed by Chief Inspector Rexson C. Layug, the head of the Manila Police District Intelligence Branch calling for an “inventory” of all public and private teachers who are members of the ACT.
Other documents published by ABS-CBN include the memo allegedly signed by Layug and a Manila Public School Teachers Association document.
The Zambales memo and the memo allegedly signed by Layug were also uploaded on ACTS’ Facebook account.
The ACT denounced the PNP’s act in a statement which they posted on their Facebook account yesterday. It said: “This is a grossly illegal and unconstitutional attack on our collective right to free expression and right to self-organization.”
The ACT also alleged that the PNP was singling out its group and said that asking for a list of members is a “clear violation of the constitutional right to self-organization, freedom of expression and assembly, and right to privacy.”
It also defended itself by saying it is a “legitimate teachers’ organization with a long history of service to professional teachers, education support personnel, and the Filipino people in general.”
The ACT added that they are recognized by the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Education (DepEd), and the Department of Labor and Employment.
Meanwhile, DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones asked for a discussion with Interior Secretary Eduardo Año about the issue “within the week,” reported Rappler.
The Commission on Human Rights called the alleged profiling “alarming.”
In a statement posted on its website yesterday, it said that the PNP’s acts violate “rights to privacy and association, which are guaranteed freedoms in the Constitution among others.”
On the other hand, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a media briefing today that it wasn’t part of the government’s policy to spy on teachers.
Panelo was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer saying: “Definitely, the policy is not to surveil teachers.”
But he added: “If you’re not doing anything [illegal], why should you be afraid?”
He also called the group “paranoid.”
“If they have shown any acts that will be inimical to the state, then they will be monitored. That’s the job of the police,” Panelo stated.
He also said President Duterte “loves teachers” and plans to raise their salaries.
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