Teacher Rosanilla “Lai” Consad has gained temporary freedom after posting bail through the help and support of lawyers, colleagues, and various teachers’ unions and federations, the Alliance of Concerned Teacher (ACT) Philippines confirmed on Friday, March 19.
Consad, who serves as the ACT Region XIII Secretary and Assistant Principal of San Vicente National Highschool in Butuan City, was arrested on March 17 for attempted homicide.
ACT said that Consad “spent two days in jail for the trumped-up charge of attempted homicide against a soldier and CAFGU member.” The group noted that she was also “repeatedly tagged as a terrorist when the police presented her to the media” on March 18.
“While we are relieved that Teacher Lai is no longer in the hands of her oppressors, our fight is far from over,” said ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio. “We expect an uphill battle as we challenge the hard wall of repressive state policies, but we never lose hope with truth on our side,” he added.
Basilio noted the outpouring of support for Consad from various teachers’ unions and federations. This, he added, is “testament that our teachers don't believe a word from the charges and accusations hurled against her, nor from the terrorist-tagging of ACT.”
Meanwhile, the group slammed the Duterte administration for attempting to “silence dissent and cover up his administration’s ineptness in resolving the health, economic and education crises.”
Basilio noted that “threats on their lives and liberties remain as long as state terrorism continues to be the policy of the government.”
Given this, ACT vowed to exhaust all measures to bring to justice the perpetrators of attacks against education workers’ human and trade union rights.
Likewise, the group also called for the international community to join them in “pushing back against the repressive government and ending the reign of culture of impunity in the country.”