As the overall public health situation is closely linked with education, a group of teachers expressed support to health workers and called on the government to give them what they deserve.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines, on Monday, Aug. 23, stood in solidarity with health workers who have been expressing over exhaustion as frontliners in the fight against coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“If we don’t support our health workers now, then we can never hope to get out of this pandemic, nor will our students stand a chance at safely returning to schools,” said ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio.

ACT said that its fight for “safe, accessible, and quality education” is closely related with the fight of health workers amid one of the worst global health crises which has affected nearly all aspects of people’s lives.

Among the issues noted by ACT was the findings of the Commission on Audit on the P4.8 million worth of deficits in the budget provided for health care workers’ financial assistance.

“It is insulting and very much demoralizing for our health care workers to be inhumanely treated like this by the government,” Basilio said. “They, too, have families and are struggling to keep their heads above water amid the health and economic crises,” he added.

For ACT, amid the government’s “glaring incompetency” in addressing the pandemic, the frontliners are the only ones keeping the country from falling apart.

“The least the government could do is provide them timely benefits and just compensation,” Basilio said. “It’s unconscionable how public funds are mishandled at a time when the people are in dire need of government services,” he added.

Meanwhile, ACT vowed to join health workers and the rest of the Filipino people in holding to account President Duterte and his “corrupt” officials who have repeatedly failed in performing their mandates. They, the group added, “should step down immediately and be charged for their crimes against the people.”