Over 100 teachers blocked at City Hall

More than 100 teachers were blocked on their way to a flag ceremony and were harassed by local security forces even if they already said they won’t conduct a rally in front of the City Hall of Davao.

“Na-harass gyud ang mga teachers. Sa pagpangutana pa lang gaina nga ‘teacher mo? Dili mo kaagi’ (The teachers were harassed. They were blocked after the security forces asked if we were teachers),” Elenito Escalante, ACT-Davao president, said during an interview with reporters after the flag ceremony yesterday, adding that the teachers were not treated well.

“Gidiritsohan pa gyud mi ug ingon na ‘don’t be disruptive’ nga ang pag-anhi ra man sa mga teachers mao ang pagpadayag sa request (We were straightforwardly told not to be disruptive even if we just want to attend the flag ceremony to express our concern),” Escalante said.

ACT Chapter President Reynaldo Pardillo, however, said there might be a miscommunication because they were officially invited by city councilor Pilar Braga but yesterday morning they found out that they were not included in the guest list.

The teachers said that were supposed to attend the flag ceremony to remind the mayor about their demand on additional local allowance and rice subsidy which the city government said was not feasible.

Meanwhile, the teachers talked to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio after the flag ceremony and told her what had happened earlier.

“Wala man sila gi-harass, giingnan lang sila na because of the information received by the security units that there will be a lightning rally (They were not harassed. They were just told that because there was information received by the security units that they will conduct a lightning rally),” Duterte-Carpio said during an interview with reporters.

Duterte-Carpio said the city hall is a No Permit, No Rally zone and rallyists are only allowed to conduct a rally at the Freedom Park.

“They can attend the flag ceremony but they cannot conduct a lightning rally,” she said.