The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines on Monday, Dec. 1, denounced the exemption of senators from the standard “no work, no pay” rule and urged the immediate suspension of Sen. Bato Dela Rosa and other officials reportedly racking up excessive and unjustified absences.

In a statement, the teachers’ group slammed the clear double standard, pointing out that ordinary teachers and workers are immediately penalized through salary cuts for absences and forced into an onerous process of filing leave, explaining emergencies, and contesting denied requests, while senators continue to enjoy a cushioned exemption from such rules.

“Tuloy ang sarap ng buhay ni Bato Dela Rosa! Hindi sisipot sa trabaho pero sumesweldo mula sa buwis ng taumbayan. Gagawa ng kasalanan sa mamamayang Pilipino at biglang magtatago at tatakbuhan ang pananagutan (Bato Dela Rosa continues to enjoy a comfortable life! He doesn’t show up for work yet keeps drawing a salary from the people’s taxes. He commits wrongdoing against the Filipino public and then suddenly hides and runs away from accountability),” ACT Chairperson Ruby Bernardo said.

She said that senators, legislators, and government officials have the option not to report for work, while ordinary teachers, employees, and workers have no choice but to toil just to earn a living.

“They work themselves to the bone, yet they end up paying the salaries of the lazy and abusive, and still get stolen from,” she lamented.

ACT emphasized that Dela Rosa has clearly learned nothing from the past, as his repeated absences mirror the same tone-deaf display of privilege he showed when he attended a Senate plenary session online just months into the pandemic lockdown and casually told his colleagues, “Sarap ng buhay! Ganito na lang tayo palagi ha (What a comfortable life! Let’s keep things this way, okay)?”

Bernardo said teachers do not have paid leaves, not even sick leave, and are forced to take on additional work and responsibilities just to earn service credits they can use when they fall ill.

“Marami rin sa amin napipilitang mag-sideline pandagdag sa araw-araw. Awtomatikong kaltas din sa amin kung hindi makakapasok at pahirapang umabsent dahil kulang kaming mga guro at overloaded (Many of us are also forced to take side jobs just to get by each day. We automatically get salary deductions if we can’t report for work, and it’s extremely difficult for us to take leave because there are too few teachers and we are overloaded),” she added.

ACT underscored that the exemption goes beyond simple unfairness and is utterly unacceptable, all the more so as revelations continue to expose extensive corruption among legislators and public officials.

"Neglect or abandonment of duty, particularly by a senator receiving hundreds of thousands of pesos every month, is itself a form of corruption. The rotten system keeps exposing itself, proving that many of those who run the government live lives in stark contradiction to what the Constitution demands of public servants," Bernardo pointed out.

The teachers group said they want Dela Rosa, along with other habitual absentee officials, be suspended immediately without pay and face accountability. 

ACT said Dela Rosa should face the charges lodged before the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the chief enforcer of the bloody drug war, instead of relying on privileges to evade accountability.

After Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla announced that the ICC had issued a warrant of arrest for Dela Rosa, the senator has not been seen in public.