THE NATIONAL Union of Peoples’ Lawyers on Sunday denounced a memo issued by the Department of Education (DepEd) that allegedly profiles members of a teachers’ group.
“The DepEd Memo brazenly orders infringements of the members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers’ (ACT) union basic rights and freedoms,” the group said in a statement.
The lawyers’ group said the measure violated the right to form unions and the right to free speech under the Constitution.
The memo ordered the submission of a list of teachers affiliated with the teachers’ union who were availing themselves of the agency’s automatic payroll deduction system.
The Alliance said the profiling has a chilling effect on ACT teachers, which may force some members to leave the group due to threats of surveillance and allegations of being communists. – John Victor D. Ordoñez