The government has no policy of putting teachers under surveillance but the Philippine National Police will “monitor” those suspected of illegal activities such as having links with communist rebels, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said on Monday.
Panelo made the statement in reaction to reports that the PNP was profiling members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).
“Definitely, there is no policy to surveille teachers. The President loves teachers,” he said, pointing out that the President’s late mother was a teacher.
At a news conference, Panelo reminded the public that the PNP had already denied it was profiling ACT members.
Identified with Left
But he said those being “monitored” by the PNP were doing illegal things.
“You must remember, ACT is a legal organization identified with the Left, and the PNP and the President have said there were legal fronts but actually they are together with the Left,” Panelo said.
“If you’re not doing anything, why should you be afraid,” he added. “If you’re not doing anything, nothing will happen.”
Panelo also said that if the police were putting anyone under surveillance, it was for a reason.
Asked to explain, he cited a possible reason that police would surely monitor if they got word that one or two teachers were involved with identified New People’s Army (NPA) rebels or were suspected to be NPA members.
Asked why the police were focusing on these groups, Panelo said the PNP had a lot of jobs and it had already denied profiling ACT members.
He said that if ever the PNP was monitoring the group, it might just be focusing on one or two of its members, probably “hard-core leaders.”
Panelo noted that the President was taking care of teachers, reminding the public that he had promised to double their salaries.
Told there was a leak of a PNP memorandum on an inventory of all public and private teachers who are members of ACT, he said there was no proof that the document was authentic.