PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde said gathering intelligence information about members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) is part of the government’s measures to address internal security problems before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends.
“Remember the state has the mandate or responsibility to protect its citizens from the enemies of the
state at ito sinasabi ng ating pangulo tatapusin nya problema at lumalabas no less than Joma Sison said these are their legal fronts. Binanggit n’ya lahat yan Gabriela, ACT, KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno), LFS (League of Filipino Students), etcetera sabi pa nya hindi ba?,” Albayalde said.
(No less than Joma Sison has mentioned Gabriela, ACT, KMU, LFS, others as their legal fronts.) Sison is the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
“Hindi naman ibig sabihin na ikaw ay nag-gather tayo ng intelligence information sa iyo, that doesn't mean that you are guilty kaya nga ito gina-gather. It's because we want to separate people here. Hindi lahat ng member ng ACT are supporting the left, tandaan nyo yan kaya kailangan makita kung sino talaga ang sumusuporta in their organization. Kung sino ang sumusuporta dito sa mga rebelde especially ‘yung armed rebellion. This is the very reason why we are doing this, to separate those doing illegal things from those who do not,” he added.
(If we gather intelligence information about you, it doesn't mean you are guilty. Not all members of ACT support the left. We need to distinguish between those who support the armed rebellion and those who do not.)
The PNP was criticized for allegedly ordering the conduct of profiling of the teachers who are members of ACT.
The said group denounced the order which they said sparked fear among its members.
ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio said they will be taking legal action against the PNP order which may have violated data privacy laws and even election laws.
“ACT will be taking legal action. So ang malinaw na nilabag dito o nilalabag ang mga basic rights, including right to privacy, ng mga guro,” he said.
“Malinaw na ang intention dito ay para takutin at i-harass ang miyembro ng ACT at malinaw din na pangingialam ito ng pulis sa darating na eleksyon. At mukhang bahagi ito ng plano para hadlangan ang paglahok at muling pagtagumpay ng ACT Teachers party-list sa darating na eleksyon,” he added.
(It is clear that they want to scare and harass members of ACT. It seems this is part of a plan to block ACT Party-list from the 2019 elections.)
However, Albayalde said they can also file counter-charges against ACT for perjury.
“Perjury. Pwede naman. If they can file a case we can always file counter-charges also hindi ba. Ganun yun. Kasi yun ngayon ang check and balance sa tao hindi ba kasi there are also hindi lang naman sila maraming tao na they just accuse their neighbor ng ganito ganun, hindi basta pwedeng ganyan. We are all protected by law tandaan n’yo yan,” he said. (SunStar Philippines)