ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider DepEd urged to encourage the exercise of rights instead of 'sowing fear' among personnel

DepEd urged to encourage the exercise of rights instead of 'sowing fear' among personnel

Published Jan 10, 2022 03:33 pm

Instead of repeatedly warning teachers and other personnel against electioneering, the Department of Education (DepEd) was urged to empower its massive workforce to responsibly exercise their rights and freedoms amid the election season through education.

(ALI VICOY / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

“DepEd's heavy reminders on the 'don'ts' while failing to highlight the 'dos' for teachers amid the election season have effectively silenced teachers for fear of being charged with electioneering,” said ACT Secretary-General Raymond Basilio.

Instead of “sowing fear,” ACT Philippines called on the DepEd to champion education workers' rights, “not repress them.”

“At one point, DepEd even insisted that teachers remain apolitical—which is misinformed at best, and, at worst, downright violative of teachers' basic rights and freedoms,” Basilio said.

DepEd, he added, should be “equipping teachers with knowledge and tools to do their duty of contributing to the molding of a well-informed public and to responsibly exercise their constitutionally protected rights.”

ACT said that that electioneering only covers activities that involve actively campaigning for or against candidates.

However, the group emphasized that it “does not and cannot trample” on teachers' right to express their political views and stances as well as their duty to counter disinformation, historical revisionism, corruption, and all other political issues prevalent during and beyond the election season.

The group noted that the voices of thousands of educators are “essential amid the reign of disinformation” in the discourse surrounding the upcoming elections.

Basilio also claimed that “hyperfocusing on electioneering has snowballed into various misinterpretations of laws and policies, and disenfranchisement of many of our teachers.”

“We've encountered teachers who believe their license will be revoked if they so much as expressed their like or dislike of candidates, or corrected a fake news being peddled by certain Presidentiables,” Basilio said. “See how it's repressive and curtails even the performance of our basic duties?” he added.

ACT, which identified itself as the biggest organization of education workers' unions, associations, and organizations in the country, said that the protection of teachers' rights and liberties are “critical not only for the education sector but for the nation as well.”

Given this, Basilio said that it is “both our right and duty to contribute reason and truth as the Filipino decides on its next leaders and to add our voices to the discourse on change and progress that our nation aspires to achieve.”

RELATED STORY:

https://mb.com.ph/2022/01/08/deped-calls-on-personnel-stakeholders-to-champion-a-clean-safe-and-fair-2022-elections/

Related Tags

deped education 2022 polls teachers Alliance of Concerned Teachers
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.