Philippines: Education unionists under attack!

Teachers and union leaders have been the victims of extrajudicial killings committed by police and the military in the Philippines. An unrelenting campaign has sought to vilify public sector trade unions, branding them as communist fronts.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Education International member organization in the Philippines, is one of the main targets of human rights violations. Public statements against the union have directly persecuted union leaders.

Rosanilla Consad, ACT Region XIII Union Secretary and Assistant Vice Principal of San Vicente National High School, was arrested on a fabricated charge of attempted homicide in March 2021. Subjected to interrogation without her legal counsel, she was presented in a press conference as a “high ranking” official of the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Education International has been actively supporting its member organizations in the Philippines as they defend human and trade union rights, as well as the right of all students to quality public education.