DepEd: Memo not intended to profile ACT members

The Department of Education (DepEd) refuted allegations on Saturday that it was profiling members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), a group critical of the agency's policies.

Regional directors and schools division superintendents were recently instructed to submit the names of ACT-affiliated teachers who are using the Automatic Payroll Deduction System (APDS), according to a DepEd memorandum that circulated online.

"The allegation that the memorandum was intended to profile the members of ACT Union as part of a supposed government anti-insurgency campaign is patently absurd, distorted, and [follows] no logic," the DepEd said in a statement.

''The request was publicly available, and proves that it did not intend to target members of the union, as alleged by ACT,'' it added. 

Separate requests were also made for the list of members of other unions, organizations, and associations of teaching and non-teaching personnel availing of the APDS, the DepEd said, thus ''there is simply no effort or intention to purposely target members of the ACT Union.''

It said the purpose of consolidating the list of those who avail of the APDS , which includes various organizations in the regions, was "to centralize, connect, update, and improve the Department’s Human Resource Systems, including the APDS."

The department said it regularly receives complaints about inaccurate, questionable, and unwarranted salary deductions for loan remittances and membership dues, which it said are within its authority to investigate.

On Friday, House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro demanded a halt to the department’s alleged profiling operations against the ACT and its members.

The Makabayan bloc has filed House Resolution 1095 condemning the alleged profiling operations of the DepEd against ACT Philippines and the disclosure and processing of the personal information and sensitive personal information of their members in violation of the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act.

"DepEd's profiling operations against ACT and their members are highly alarming and a clear violation of their basic rights. The disclosure and processing of their personal information and sensitive personal information without their consent is a direct attack on their privacy and security," Castro said.

Castro also called on the Marcos administration, particularly Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict to end the supposed profiling of unions and activists, as well as red tagging. 

Duterte is also the co-vice chairperson of the NTF-ELCAC.  —VBL, GMA Integrated News