MANILA, Philippines – Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio has called on Congress to expel members of the Makabayan bloc as she lashed out at the Davao chapter of ACT Teachers party list for claiming that her city does not give local allowances to its teachers.

“Congress should expel the members of Makabayan bloc. The party-list system is the milking cow of terrorists,” she said in an Instagram post on Monday, October 8.

ACT Teachers is represented in the Makabayan bloc, a group of Left-leaning legislators in the House of Representatives.

Its Davao City chapter, ACT Teachers Davao, had been quoted by Radyo ni Juan radio station as alleging that Davao City is the only major city in the Philippines that does not give allowances to teachers.

Carpio called the group “terrorists” and “liars” who should be “expelled” from Davao City.

“DepEd (Department of Education) should dismiss terrorists from their rank. How ironic for government to pay public money to people who work against the government,” she said. 

To rebut the claim of ACT Teachers Davao, Carpio said that in December 2016 and 2017, her city “gave gift cheques worth P2,000/person/year to all teaching and non-teaching employees of DepEd.”

The mayor added that her staff had copies of the budget, pictures of the checks distribution, and liquidation documents to prove this.

“Pahirapan pa nga magpa-approve ng grant ninyo at kami pa ang nasa alanganin and you have the temerity to lie. Kung puwede lang sana kayo i-expel outside of Davao City,” said President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter.

(It was difficult enough to have your grant approved and we were put in a situation and you have the temerity to lie. If only you could be expelled from Davao City.)

ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio had insisted that based on data from their group, Davao City does not give out local allowances regularly to teachers. 

ACT Teachers told Carpio in a Facebook post that it is willing to work with her to help teachers in her city.

“We apologize if the post she is reacting to sounded offensive to her. It was never our intention to offend as it is only based on facts. Madam Mayor, we are willing to sit with you to clarify our side. We are not your enemy,” said the group.

Tinio, however, claimed the mayor was turning to “harassment” and “bullying” instead of trying to address the concerns of her city’s teachers.

“To Mayor Sara Duterte, our wish is for teachers’ rights to fight for their field of expertise be respected. They should not be made to fear but should have their demands for local allowance be heard because we know what Davao City is capable of,” he said Filipino in a Monday press conference. – Rappler.com