Justice sought for slain teacher

Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2020 09:58:06 +0000

A federation of teachers on Tuesday condemned the shooting of their fellow teacher in La Union and urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to “do everything in its power to bring justice” to the victim and his family.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines, in a statement, strongly condemned the killing of Andrew Glenn Quinto, a Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) teacher, at the Bacnotan National High School in La Union.

As the classes in public schools resumed after the three-week Christmas vacation, ACT said that the teachers and students of Bacnotan NHS were welcomed by the “tokhang-style killing” of Quinto outside their school.

“Quinto was manning the school gate when, at around 6:50 a.m., unidentified assailants gunned him to death,” the group said.

ACT “condemns in the strongest terms the continuing spate of extrajudicial killings in the country and the culture of impunity that allow such horrendous crimes to persist.”

Under the Duterte administration, the group noted that it has “documented eight cases of teachers who have fallen victim to EJK [extra-judicial killing], with some transpiring within the vicinity of the school.”

The group noted that there are also others who have been terrorized as the military conducts operations and/or camps in their schools and communities.

“These are clear violations of the state’s duty to ensure that schools are safe spaces for teachers and students and are zones of peace,” ACT noted.

Last November, DepEd formally issued the national policy framework on learners and schools as zones of peace in an effort to guide the education sector towards the creation of safe, inclusive and conflict-sensitive learning environments.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones, in DepEd Order No. 32 s. of 2019, said that this framework “defines the componen
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