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By Jonathan M. Hicap, Reporter
Some 1,000 public school teachers marched to the
Navotas City Hall on Saturday to denounce the filing of criminal
charges by a losing mayoralty candidate against 13 teachers.
The charges were filed by former Rep. Ricky
Sandoval who ran for mayor but lost in the May 2007 elections.
Sandoval claimed there was massive cheating in the polls.
“We march to the streets to show the public
that we can never be frightened by such threats from losing
politicians. We are dignified professionals, we would never be
instruments of lies,” said Esperanza Tecson, president of the
Association of Public Elementary School Teachers of Navotas (Apeston).
Their message to politicians was simple: humbly
accept defeat and stop blaming others. Likewise, teachers fear that
the Sandoval case can become a bad precedent if the concerned court
rules against the 13 accused teachers.
“Cheating is impossible at the precinct level,
where we are closely watched by their designated poll watchers,”
said Gil Cabrito, president of the Valenzuela Public School Teachers
Association (VPSTA).
John Gayola of Malabon Public School Teachers
Association (Mapsta) described the filing of charges as a gross
disregard of the teachers’ sacrifices.
“During elections, teachers are in the
frontlines risking our life and limb to ensure a clean and honest
conduct of this process. It is really disappointing that we are
being tagged as cheaters,” he said.
Because of the filing of charges against the 13
teachers and the fact that many of their colleagues were subjected
to intimidation and harassment during recent village polls, the
Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) is supporting a bill filed in
Congress that will end the compulsory election duty of public school
teachers.
The TDC, a national teachers’ organization of
which Apeston, Mapsta and VPSTA are affiliated, is against the
mandated poll duty for public school teachers.
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