Info gathering on ACT, TDC 'standard requirement’: DepEd

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 19, 2021): Info gathering on ACT, TDC 'standard requirement’: DepEd (By Filane Mikee Cervantes)

Education Secretary Leonor Briones (Screengrab from RTVM)

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday came to the defense of its recent directive to identify the membership details of two teachers’ organizations – Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) – saying it is a standard and legitimate requirement.

In a Palace briefing, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said organizations that deal with the agency must comply with the standard requirements, including the submission of names of officers and members.

"These are standard, hindi naman illegitimate itong mga organisasyon na ito (these organizations are not illegitimate), they are perfectly legitimate and therefore they are perfectly required by law to submit what is usefully required of legitimate organizations which deal with the government," Briones said.

Briones was reacting to criticisms from the two teachers’ groups that condemned the profiling directive for local DepEd officials to identify the members of their groups.

They said DepEd had violated their constitutional rights when it disseminated an online survey meant to profile teachers who are members of ACT and TDC.

The Google form reportedly titled “Data on the Number of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition and Alliance of Concerned Teachers” required to input full names and email addresses, and state whether they were members of ACT, TDC or both.

Briones said the department collects certain fees from members of teachers' groups.

“So, we have to know the names of the members in order for us to deduct membership fees,” she said.

Nothing irregular

Briones said there is nothing irregular about the directive, as she allayed concerns that such action may lead to the harassment of teachers.

"We don’t harass. Everything, any action that we have undertaken is always covered by the law because that is my training. We are a government of laws. Organizations which deal with the DepEd, of course, have to comply with the requirements," she said.

Meanwhile, DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said the agency would safeguard the teachers’ personal information.

“We have a data protection officer in the Department of Education and so any disclosure or sharing of this information complies with Data Protection. So, there is no individual profiling that the Department is doing outside of the required submission of information,” he said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1137303